Research and sustainability seminar: René Poulsen

Presentation of research and sustainability seminar: Global climate change is increasingly seen as the largest challenge of the 21st century and the shipping industry also has an important role to play in this context. Associate Professor René Taudal Poulsen from the Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics will in this part of the Sustainability Seminars present his latest research project funded by the Danish Maritime Fund. Below is a brief presentation of the research:

The shipping industry faces two major challenges, both of which are caused by its reliance on fossil fuels. The industry’s fuel costs and total CO2 emissions are on the rise, and the industry needs to improve its energy efficiency in order to address both challenges. Several studies have demonstrated a potential for such improvements, based on existing technologies and changes in operational habits. The studies have shown that shipping currently fails to use energy efficiently and miss opportunities to reduce emission levels in cost-effective ways. Referring to these studies, this presentation presents a new, three year research project which will examine barriers to and incentives for energy efficiency improvements in shipping. Situated within the field of maritime and energy economics, the presentation will focus on the background and the main hypotheses of the project and discuss its potential significance to maritime economics as well as the shipping industry.