The Costa Group is establishing a new department fully dedicated to decarbonization. The new unit concentrates scientific and technical expertise from across the group to focus on the goal of zero emission cruising for Costa and AIDA Cruises.
Costa Group, with its two brands Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises, is creating a dedicated decarbonization department within its Carnival Maritime unit based in Hamburg.
The newly established department, which brings the group’s scientific and technical expertise under one roof, will be responsible for developing and implementing the strategy for achieving the decarbonization ambitions of the Costa and AIDA fleets by 2050. The effort will have a strong focus on research and development, energy management and data analytics to develop the roadmap that will lead to zero emission ship operations.
The newly created department will work to further improve the environmental performance of the existing fleet, working in synergy with the Sustainability Departments of the Costa and AIDA brands. Specifically, the unit will be studying and testing new technologies, such as batteries, fuel cells, solar and wind power, to accelerate their availability.
Next-generation exhaust gas cleaning systems are currently being developed with partners to allow lower emission levels. Over time, developments in the application of alternative fuels on a large scale, including biofuels (liquefied biogas and biodiesel), methanol, ammonia and hydrogen fuels, will allow the ships to be flexible on the use of low- carbon energy. Solutions are being designed to meet requirements for newbuild ships, as well as for the current fleet, for the capability to store and utilize new-generation fuels.
“Addressing climate change requires a great effort and commitment, and we believe that the creation of our new dedicated task force is a key asset to accelerate the development of new concepts that can lead us to reach carbon neutral operations by 2050”, said Michael Thamm, Group CEO, Costa Group and Carnival Asia. “To meet this challenge, we intend to build collaborations and partnerships with other players in the value chain to continue our pioneering role within the cruise industry. We will also continue to work in close cooperation with governments to make sure that Europe can lead the way to sustainable cruising”.
Over the years, Costa Group has been leading sustainable innovation for the cruise industry by introducing new advanced technologies on board its existing and new ships. The company was the first to introduce LNG propulsion, the most advanced fuel technology available to reduce emissions. The group already has four ships in service. Moreover the majority of the ships in the fleet are equipped with shore power capabilities to be zero emission in ports where this technology is available.
Currently, Costa Group is ready to install the biggest lithium-ion battery storage system on the cruise ship AIDAprima by the summer. Fuel cells powered by hydrogen derived from methanol are being currently installed on the AIDAnova to run the first tests this summer. With Ecospray, the Italian-based company of which Costa is shareholder, Costa Group is also working on carbon capture experimental projects.