An environmental activist group said on Wednesday that cargo ships burning liquefied natural gas (LNG) are actually worse for the climate due to methane emissions.
Cargo ships use a particularly dirty type of fuel but the shipping industry has sought to shift to cleaner-burning LNG.
However, Transport & Environment said that an investigation it mounted of LNG-powered ships in service found that they emit methane which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
The names of these new LNG-powered ships “contain words like ‘eco’ and they are often painted green,” said Transport & Environment.
“But their green credentials end there.”
Using a thermal imaging camera, the group said it filmed the emissions of two LNG-powered ships in the port of Rotterdam last November.
It said a review of the images by an independent optical gas imaging consultancy found that “intense uncombusted hydrocarbon emissions were being released into the atmosphere”.
The owner of one of the ships reviewed, French shipping giant CMA CGM, said it had “already identified the issue of uncombusted methane… and is working with its motor manufacturer partners” to reduce the emissions.
A spokesman said reductions in methane emissions had already been achieved.
Shipping companies began shipping to LNG primarily due to reduce high sulfur emissions from marine fuel, he also noted, as the pollution is a source of tensions with authorities in some port cities.