There is a story behind everything – also how ABB’s CO2e (carbon dioxide-equivalent) Calculator came to life. The primus motors of the project from ABB Marine & Ports – Klaus Vänskä, Head of Global Strategy and Business Development, Marine Systems, Tommi Lempiäinen, Head of Strategy, Business Development and Sustainability, who facilitated the project on the sustainability side, and Senior Digital Marketing Specialist Denise Mørner, who coordinated the project – share their views about the why, how, and when. It's all about getting the net-zero ball rolling.
Launched in Autumn 2023 and recently upgraded to version 3.0 with a more intuitive interface and additional functionality, the CO2e Calculator allows shipowners, operators, and designers to estimate the potential emissions-reduction and energy-savings impact of five ABB technologies used on board ships.
The digital tool highlights these solutions' potential to support decarbonization objectives in line with International Maritime Organization (IMO) climate targets. They include Azipod® electric propulsion (versus a traditional shaft-line system); shaft generator (installed on the main engine shaft versus auxiliary engines driven by an auxiliary diesel generator); Onboard DC Grid™ power system platform (specifically, the solution’s variable-speed function for internal combustion engines compared to a fixed-speed function); Energy Storage System (using batteries charged from the shoreside grid versus a conventional combustion engine running on fossil fuels; and shore connection (drawing power from the grid instead of using onboard generators).
Outlining the project's background, Vänskä explains that the calculator evolved out of internal methods – mostly Excel-based to start with – ABB had been using since 2000 to measure how their solutions impacted fuel consumption. “Until CO2 came into focus with the introduction of the EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) for new ships in 2013, there was very little market interest in quantifying emissions. There was of course huge interest in energy savings, but not CO2 per se. It wasn't a topic that was discussed. However the pressure gradually built up given the pending requirements for EEXI (Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index) and CII (Carbon Intensity Index) certification.”
In 2021, Vänskä's team developed more detailed calculations to fully understand the impact of ABB solutions on total emissions. “Emissions are dependent on the consumed fuel energy in any case, so we just had to make small additions to the existing consumption calculations. That led to the creation of a tool that included all the solutions now in the CO2e Calculator, but again it was only for internal use.”
There were two main categories of interest, one resulting from ABB's own sustainability reporting requirements, and the other from the accelerating regulation on the customer side. “Obviously, we want to help customers with any type of vessel influenced by regulations to see how much they can reduce emissions with our solutions, but at that time we didn't think about making it externally available,” he says.
Everyone is in the same boat as most customers need to comply with the IMO's zero emission target by 2050, when many vessels being built now are likely to still be in operation. That means they have to be either flexible or already ready for zero emission.
External publication reflects spirit of innovation
The idea to publish the tool came from ABB Marine & Ports' Marketing and Communications department in May 2022. “We saw the value in allowing existing and new customers to access our calculations in a simplified way, to get an overview of how our solutions can help reduce their total emissions. Linking the operational profile of the vessel to the CO2e part also helps to translate something quite abstract into something achievable in reality,” Mørner says.
Substance-wise the core equations just required fine-tuning and adapting to a web-based tool, in addition to the necessary coding. “The front-end requires only minimum data input, and we made a compromise in expecting that the typical user would have this data to hand. In version 3.0, dynamic calculation responds immediately to editing the input values. There are also tooltips added to guide the user,” Vänskä says.
ABB's internal versions are more flexible as its experts can use much wider input data, but Vänskä and his team felt that requiring this for the online tool would limit its usage. “Nevertheless, it gives quite accurate results. And we deliberately tried to avoid bias; the values it generates are on the cautious side. Our solutions may even achieve better results in real cases.”
Vänskä adds that some calculations were changed to reflect different geographies. Diffuse solutions like shore connection and energy storage for fully electric vessels use local electricity grids, so users can input data from local grid emission indexes to generate results that reflect the real situation in a specific country, rather than using generic global averages. “This is very important, because in Norway, for example, electricity is mainly hydropower versus other countries where coal or other non-renewable sources are used to generate electricity. This will clearly affect your total emissions.”
The version 3.0 also includes the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) definition of emissions as an option. According to this, grid energy mix is not influencing, and the assumption is that shore electricity emissions are zero. This function is added to the operating country drop-down menu in the Energy Storage and Shore connection calculators, so that when an operating country is selected, the emission savings results are based on country electricity emissions from 2023 by the International Energy Agency (IEA). But when IMO CII calculation is selected, the emission savings are based on the CII calculation method, which always assumes shore electricity emissions to be zero. “This removes the emissions responsibility of the grid from the ship owner, as they cannot influence the grid power mix,” Vänskä says.
Making decarbonization more tangible
The most obvious benefit the calculator provides is a fast and easy indication of the emission reduction benefits of ABB solutions. Emission savings are calculated Tank-To-Wake (TTW) basis, including only fuel use-phase emissions. “Everyone is in the same boat as most customers need to comply with the IMO's zero emission target by 2050, when many vessels being built now are likely to still be in operation. That means they have to be either flexible or already ready for zero emission,” Lempiäinen says.
“Our intention with this tool is to transparently show users which solutions can help them achieve that, as well as minimize energy consumption and indirectly increase space on board for new energy carriers. The potential energy savings provide the user with an understanding of how much energy (e.g. fuel) is saved by applying the given solution to the given operational profile. Saving fuel means saved operational costs as well as potentially smaller fuel storage onboard.”
Whether it's designers or shipyards working from newbuilding specifications, the tool can help technical teams on this learning curve. “In the absence of a regulatory stick, most investments to reduce emissions likely wouldn't be made. However, you have to comply with continuous operations. The carrot lies in exploring and choosing solutions that both improve efficiency and reduce emissions, providing a clear benefit for years to come and as cleaner – but more expensive – fuels become available,” Lempiäinen adds.
It's basically been about repackaging what we've been doing for a long time and allowing others to use as well. We're all in this decarbonization boat together and sharing knowledge in a transparent way feels good.
“In essence, the calculator demonstrates the tangible emission-reduction impact of our products, and as part of ABB's overall sustainability strategy it empowers owners to make informed decisions on which solutions to invest in – calculated for their specific scenario. It's admittedly a small, but nonetheless significant lever within the framework of our broader quest to drive maritime decarbonization in line with the IMO's ambitions. You could see it as a promise of bigger things to come.”
Terminology proves to be a key learning
Vänskä highlights the amount of work it took to bring together all the stakeholders for what on the surface would appear to be a minor endeavour. “There were a lot of eyes on the project, from usability all the way down to terminology,” he says. “It was surprising how much care we had to take in choosing the right wording. We could perhaps have published the tool 12 months earlier but it was a necessary step.”
For example, he explains that 'saving' emissions is not the same as 'reducing' or 'avoiding' emissions. “We could only use the term 'avoid' if all customers would be using fossil-free fuel; but as LNG is one option in the calculator – it's greener but still fossil-based – you can't use 'avoid'. The term 'saving' emissions also still implies the use of fossil-based fuel. With energy storage and shore connection, everything depends on the source of shoreside grid electricity. So, in the end we opted for in-between terminology – 'reducing' emissions – based on guidance from Group level. We'd really had no experience with such semantic subtleties that can land you in trouble. Plus, in order to make sure our environmental claims are genuine and transparent, we wanted to avoid just advertising reduced emissions, not total emissions.”
Lempiäinen also stresses how clarity of wording has suddenly become much stricter. “With even large reputable companies getting caught out, you have to ensure your messaging can't be misinterpreted. No one cared that much when it was just about saving energy. A lot of companies still probably claim overly positive figures on how much energy they can save customers, but it's not treated as seriously as emissions claims. The whole media landscape has changed. Green isn't just green; it can be dark green or light green. We had also thought about using some variation of 'green' for the CO2e Calculator, but thankfully our corporate comms saved us from running into that potential trap.”
One tiny step closer to a zero-emission future
Denise Mørner has been tracking the calculator's usage since launch. “Analytics show it has been actively used around more than 1,600 times so far, which is pretty good. We know users are from all the major maritime countries in Asia and Europe. The heaviest use has been from South Korea, which makes sense given the country's strong shipbuilding base.”
On a personal level, every time the tool is used, Mørner feels like “we're one tiny step closer to a zero-emission future, supported by an ABB system. It all adds up in the end!”
Sharing knowledge feels good
Vänskä has been surprised by the amount of positive feedback they have received for the calculator as a means to showcase the impact of ABB solutions. “People have been very supportive. One acquaintance who works with other marine systems was even told by his manager that they have to get a similar tool. It suggests that this kind of transparent decision-making tool will be required even more by the industry going forward.”
Personally, he says helping to create an easily available and usable tool for a wider audience of non-specialists has been very rewarding. “It's basically been about repackaging what we've been doing for a long time and allowing others to use as well. We're all in this decarbonization boat together and sharing knowledge in a transparent way feels good.”
Looking to the future, we will continue to develop the calculator further as new solutions are added to the ABB portfolio. “Maritime is gradually electrifying and reducing emissions every minute and every mile. For us, the calculator represents an important glimpse into the shape of things to come,” Lempiäinen concludes.
