Marine shipping currently accounts for around 2% of global GHG emissions, only five countries on Earth emit more than that annually. Reducing emissions from this vital global sector is imperative to mitigate future climate change.

While many designs for wind, solar, and hydrogen powered vessels are being researched for trans-ocean crossings, a company in Norway has made incredible strides with the first ever fully-electric and fully-autonomous container ship. The Yara Birkeland, developed by Yara International and Kongsberg Gruppen, is slated to begin operation moving goods that would otherwise be transported via trucks between three ports in Norway’s internal waters.

Although the Yara Birkeland is a very modest step towards reducing shipping emissions as it can only carry around 100 standard shipping containers (about 0.5% of the capacity of the worlds largest mega-container ships), will only operate in coastal waters, and travels at half the top speed of most container ships, the ship is a great proof of concept and will hopefully be the catalyst for future zero-emissions developments in the sector.