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It's a good question, and a very good thing to think about. It turns out shipping is actually surprisingly low on the list of contributors to carbon emissions.

It's a good question, and a very good thing to think about. It turns out shipping is actually surprisingly low on the list of contributors to carbon emissions. All global shipping together contributes about 1.7% of global emissions. That's in comparison to, say, industrial energy usage (24.2%) or passenger cars (11.9%) or residential buildings (10.9%) or animals raised for food (5.8%). Should carbon emissions of shipping be a factor in decisions like this? Unquestionably, yes. But at worst it's going to be a small tick in the negative column, and could actually come out ahead depending on other factors like local emissions regulations, etc. Source: https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/09/Emissions-by-sector-%E2%80%93-pie-charts.png https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/09/Emissions-by-sect...

M4v3R 3y ago
One unrelated correction - you mentioned passenger cars are responsible for 11.9% of global emissions, but your source says this figure is for the whole road transport. Passenger cars AFAIK account for the third of that.
- coldpie 3y ago
  Yes, good catch. I was getting that mixed up with the US EPA's stats[1]. FWIW they say passenger cars account for 58% of all transportation emissions within the US, more than all trucking, flights, and shipping combined. Again, within the US. [1] https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-...
kipchak 3y ago
Apparently shipping is slightly unusual as it produces a greater than average amount Sulfur Oxide due to bunker fuel's higher sulfur content though it is not considered a greenhouse gas such as in the graph. This is where headlines like "One cargo ship emits as much pollutants as 50 million cars" comes from, though the calculation is debatable.[1] For comparison gas or diesel is something like 10-15ppm Sulfur in the US now while historically bunker fuel is historically more like 3-5%, though it has been decreasing with regulations. [2] [1]https://www.cadmatic.com/en/resources/articles/does-one-ship-pollute-as-much-as-50-million-cars/ https://www.cadmatic.com/en/resources/articles/does-one-ship... [2]https://www.epa.gov/diesel-fuel-standards/diesel-fuel-standards-and-rulemakings https://www.epa.gov/diesel-fuel-standards/diesel-fuel-standa...

M4v3R 3y ago

One unrelated correction - you mentioned passenger cars are responsible for 11.9% of global emissions, but your source says this figure is for the whole road transport. Passenger cars AFAIK account for the third of that.

coldpie 3y ago
Yes, good catch. I was getting that mixed up with the US EPA's stats[1]. FWIW they say passenger cars account for 58% of all transportation emissions within the US, more than all trucking, flights, and shipping combined. Again, within the US. [1] https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-...

kipchak 3y ago

Apparently shipping is slightly unusual as it produces a greater than average amount Sulfur Oxide due to bunker fuel's higher sulfur content though it is not considered a greenhouse gas such as in the graph. This is where headlines like "One cargo ship emits as much pollutants as 50 million cars" comes from, though the calculation is debatable.[1] For comparison gas or diesel is something like 10-15ppm Sulfur in the US now while historically bunker fuel is historically more like 3-5%, though it has been decreasing with regulations. [2] [1]https://www.cadmatic.com/en/resources/articles/does-one-ship-pollute-as-much-as-50-million-cars/ https://www.cadmatic.com/en/resources/articles/does-one-ship... [2]https://www.epa.gov/diesel-fuel-standards/diesel-fuel-standards-and-rulemakings https://www.epa.gov/diesel-fuel-standards/diesel-fuel-standa...