Driving the Deployment of Absolute Zero in Maritime Shipping

The ShipZERO programme is at the core of ZESTAs strategy to accelerate the deployment of Absolute Zero-Emissions Ecosystems (AZE), turning the tide in the maritime sector. Our ShipZERO workshops are a platform for collaboration: bringing together leading innovators, policymakers, and key stakeholders across the shipping and energy sectors, showcasing actionable steps to the implementation of real-world solutions.

Introducing ShipZERO30 – Ideas into Action

Aberdeen 23st-26th September 2025

ShipZERO30 will gather a “coalition of the willing” across the Shipping and Energy Sectors under one banner from the 23rd to the 26th of September 2025 in Aberdeen, Scotland, to take tangible steps toward deploying an Absolute Zero Emissions Ecosystem in the North Sea and Baltic regions. Energy infrastructure and vessel technology has been demonstrated at a pilot level. Full deployment is required to trigger investment across the supply chain.

Building on the momentum of previous workshops, ShipZERO30 brings together decision makers who are in a position to build collaborative agreements and take action. View event

Past ShipZERO Workshops

ShipZERO26: Charging to True Zero

Our inaugural workshop was held on the River Clyde in Glasgow during COP26 in 2021. ShipZERO26 broke down the silos of the shipping industry and brought together stakeholders from across the supply chain. Throughout the brainstorming sessions and panel discussions it was evident that the technology to achieve zero emissions in shipping is ready to be scaled up to meet global demand. The financial mechanisms are in place but policy is required to create the economic environment for large scale investment. View event

ShipZERO26.5: We’ve Got the Power! Collaboration for Disruption

Held in Amsterdam in 2022, ShipZERO26.5 saw the industry create a plan to pull together resources and stakeholders to transition port infrastructure, shipping lanes, ship design from concept to build, as well as the full spectrum of contractual relationships.

Four key solutions were identified:

Pooling resources into multi-vessel projects with collaboration between competitors
Absolute Zero Emissions channels in green corridors
Modular and retrofit-ready design to future-proof investments – e.g. containerised and swappable components
Industry-led contract & agreement.

ShipZERO26.5 moved the conversation forward, by pinpointing specific solutions while incorporating diverse perspectives across the industry. View event

ShipZERO28: When, Where, and How is Absolute Zero Shipping Possible Now?

Held at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) during London International Shipping Week (LISW) in 2023, ShipZERO28 brought together a wide and diverse group of leaders from the shipping and energy sectors to brainstorm solutions to creating global zero emission ecosystems, with a focus on addressing shipowner challenges.

At ShipZERO28 we considered ocean health’s impact on climate, and shipping’s impact on climate health, bringing a new perspective and urgency to achieving absolute zero emissions and zero pollution from shipping. As an industry, shipping must grasp its duty to responsibly steward our oceans to prevent ocean acidification and catastrophic climate change.

Experts from across the energy sector brought their knowledge and experience to address the question: how do we deliver green energy to ships? The takeaways here are to learn from scaled up land-based systems for proven technology and work collaboratively with ports to start small and modular infrastructure demonstrators which can then scale up as demand grows.

ShipZERO28 again demonstrated that all of this technology is available today and the renewable energy required is ready to build – but it needs demand from industry to trigger investment. View event

ShipZERO28.5: Bridging East and West to Accelerate Absolute Zero Emissions Shipping

Held during Singapore Maritime Week in 2024, ShipZERO28.5 highlighted advancements in absolute zero emissions technologies in the asian market. The focus was brought back to the necessity of creating absolute zero emissions habitats to nurture the ecosystems that will support the eventual transition of the whole industry. View event

* What is absolute zero?

The World Shipping Council defined “absolute zero” GHG emission fuels in a submission to the IMO based on the Wellto-Wake (WTW) model by the European Sustainable Shipping Forum and Marin1.

The only demonstrated and commercialised zero emission fuels are renewable electricity and hydrogen produced from renewable electricity.