SHANGHAI: The government in Shanghai wants to convert the world’s busiest port into a centre for greener shipping.

China’s biggest city aims to build its capacity to supply cleaner fuels in preparation for more stringent global emissions mandates. The target is to raise Shanghai’s low-carbon bunkering to over one million tonnes a year by 2030, according to a statement on Friday.

China is stepping up competition with Asia’s bunkering hub of Singapore ahead of a decarbonisation plan that’s expected from the International Maritime Organisation next year.

The European Union is already imposing carbon targets on shipping. The sector is responsible for 3% the world’s emissions.

Shanghai’s goal is just a fraction of the near 20 million tonnes of fuel oil sold to international shipping in China in 2023, suggesting that the transition to hydrogen-based propellants like methanol and ammonia is likely to take many years.

Traditional bunker fuels will only be displaced on a larger scale from 2040, China’s biggest supplier said last month.

Singapore, for its part, also has a target of one million tonnes of low-carbon methanol by 2030. The city-state is the world’s dominant supplier of bunker fuel, accounting for more than 50 million tonnes last year.

But China does have a habit of over-delivering on its promises when it comes to clean technologies, and should have a head start on hydrogen-based fuels generated by renewable energy given its enormous global lead in solar and wind power.

Top solar panel manufacturer Longi Green Energy Technology Co has hooked up with AP Moller-Maersk A/S to supply the shipping giant with bio-methanol. 

 - Bloomberg