Ships calling at California ports will be included in future policies to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) in the state, Bunkerworld has learned.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB), the lead state agency on this issue, provided background and a timeline to the policies at a workshop yesterday.

AB32, which was signed into law in California in 2006, requires that GHG emissions must be reduced to a 1990 baseline by 2020, with further reductions from that level through 2050.

ARB is responsible for putting together a Scoping Plan by January next year to identify "technically feasible and cost effective measures" to achieve those targets.

The reductions in GHG emissions will have to be substantial.  The 1990 baseline is around 425 million metric tonnes (mt) of 'CO2 equivalent' emissions. In 2004 California produced 480 million mt and the 2020 total is estimated by ARB to be 600 million mt.

Transportation overall accounted for 38% of GHG emissions in 2004.

The goods movement sector, which is a subset of transportation and includes ships, drayage trucks, rail, and port operations, is expected to produce 14.7 million mt of emissions by 2020, according to ARB figures, or around 2.5% of the state-wide total.

Within the 14.7 million mt figure, ocean going vessels will be responsible for 6.49 million mt, or 44%.

The first guiding principle for GHG reducing policies for the goods movement sector is to "identify measures that result in continued progress toward a lower carbon, more sustainable goods movement system", ARB said at the workshop.

Initial measures to reduce ship emissions will include the shore power regulations already being developed by ARB, primarily targeting other emissions but with a CO2 benefit, as well as vessel speed reduction initiatives that could include a regulatory component on top of the voluntary, incentive-based scheme already put in place by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.

Longer-term measures for ships being investigated by ARB include: optimised hull and propeller design, heat recovery systems, air cavity hull systems, advanced hull coatings and maintenance, wind power, and operational changes.

ARB will hold additional workshops this year on its ideas for the Scoping Plan, prior to expected Board approval in December, and yesterday emphasised some of the key ideas from AB32 of efficiency, technological innovation, and public-private partnerships.

"Some have challenged whether AB 32 is good for businesses," Governor Schwarzenegger said at the time of signing AB32 into law. "I say unquestionably it is good for businesses. Not only large, well-established businesses, but small businesses that will harness their entrepreneurial spirit to help us achieve our climate goals."