Wind propulsion stalled by lack of political courage

5 May 2026

Wind vessel fuel consumption can already be reduced by 6.3-9.4% today, with potentially much more when combined with other measures. The technology is ready. What is still missing is policy.

Until now, no study has assessed the decarbonisation potential of wind propulsion for the entire maritime fleet. This study fills that gap and the findings are clear: wind propulsion is a commercially available, proven technology that can deliver real emissions reductions today, even before next-generation fuels become widely available or affordable. The organisation Seas at Risk has now commissioned this research, with clear results.

Based on modelling of emissions from main engines in the global fleet, prepared by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Manchester, UK, wind propulsion could reduce annual carbon emissions by 7.8% by 2050: a carbon saving potential of up to 762 million tonnes. That is equivalent to taking up to 170 million cars out of circulation every year. These are conservative estimates; the real potential is greater when operational optimisation is applied, such as weather routing, slow sailing, hull optimisation for newly built ships and primary wind designs.
But the speed at which policy ambitions are realised will determine the scale of the impact.

Policy is the bottleneck

Without stronger incentives, wind propulsion will deliver only 0.2% emission reductions by 2050. IMO’s Net-Zero Framework should reward real, early reductions and limit the use of trading mechanisms as a substitute for real progress. At the same time, strengthening/tightening the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) is crucial to encourage the installation of wind-assisted propulsion systems.

Waiting is not a strategy:

The decarbonisation targets set by the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) greenhouse gas strategy are fast approaching: 30% emission reduction by 2030, 80% by 2040 and full decarbonisation by 2050. Most of the ships that will sail in the 2030s are already in service today. Converting them now will build skills, supply chains and momentum, while committing actual cumulative reductions over the next crucial decade. It also directly supports the IMO’s commitment to use at least 5% – and aim for 10% – of zero- or near-zero emission technologies, fuels and energy sources by 2030.

Anaïs Rios, Senior Shipping Policy Officer at Seas At Risk, says: “The ships needed to meet the 2030 climate targets are already at sea and can run on wind power. Fitting sails already reduces fuel consumption and emissions, while it will be decades before alternative fuels are widely available. Wind propulsion is not an option for the future, but a solution we can deploy today. The priority is to scale this up and make sure the transition is fair and accessible to all.”

Dr James Mason, Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester, says: “This is the most comprehensive research to date on how wind propulsion can scale up and contribute to decarbonising the maritime fleet. Using advanced modelling techniques and real operational data, we have shown that targeted deployment on the best-performing vessels can deliver significant carbon savings. If the scale-up of the technology is supported over the next crucial decade, wind propulsion could play a crucial role in reducing cumulative emissions and limiting the maritime sector’s contribution to the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.”

Policy recommendations

To harness the full potential of wind propulsion, IMO and EU policy frameworks must be structured to reward real, early emission reductions. As IMO is about to resume global negotiations on decarbonisation, Seas At Risk calls for: Pollution from shipping is global. So is responsibility. IMO’s Net-Zero Framework offers a crucial opportunity to move from ambition to action. This study shows that wind power is poised to play an important role, but only if policies are designed to reward those who act early and honestly.

Read the whole article on the Seas at Risk site.
The research report can be found here.

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