Clean innovation in shipping

Patents (and IP more broadly) play a crucial role in supporting a sustainable maritime future. They incentivise research and development; help attract investment, and provide competitive advantage. Innovations ranging from zero-emission fuels, wind-assisted propulsion, electrically powered vessels, port infrastructure such as shore-power charge ports and improved efficiency via digital tools are moving from theory into deployment. But they must work in tandem with regulatory support, infrastructure investment, and public-private collaboration to make innovation scalable.

UK Government investment commitments

The UK Government has recently outlined a strategy and committed to provide significant funding to support the decarbonisation of the shipping industry.

In March 2025, the Department for Transport published the maritime decarbonisation strategy which set out the pathway for the UK’s domestic maritime sector to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. As part of this, the UK Government has acknowledged that research and development is required to ensure that clean maritime technologies are available at scale for adoption, and so has committed to funding £448 million of R&D investment between 2026 and 2030.

In addition to this investment commitment, according to the UK Government, it will:

1. Accelerate the commercialisation of developed technologies, including through a future round of the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure competition (ZEVI2) to be launched in 2026. This will fund the build and commercial trial of clean maritime solutions.
2. Develop emerging technologies through to being ready for market, including through a seventh round of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC7) to be launched in 2026, focusing on real-world demonstration projects concluding in 2030. This will be followed by two more rounds to be launched between 2027 and 2029.
3. Support early scientific research of novel technologies through the ongoing work of the Clean Maritime Research Hub until at least 2028 in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
4. Enable development of whole system solutions and penetration of international markets through international R&D. This includes participation in the global Eureka research programme to conduct pre-deployment trials.
5. Focus efforts on tackling the barriers to the scale-up of the technologies and companies supported through this funding, working with Innovate UK, across government, the National Wealth Fund and the British Business Bank.

Conclusion

With the UK Government’s regulatory strategies and recent large-scale investment, there is an opportunity to transform shipping into a cleaner and more sustainable industry. Policy, technology and investment, will need to combine with strong IP protection to support this transformation.

On Thursday 18 September 2025, we will be attending INNOVATE UK’s Clean Maritime Day 2025. The event will bring together innovators, industry leaders, and policy makers committed to decarbonising the shipping sector and moving towards a sustainable maritime future.

Useful links

• European Environment Agency first environmental impact report, 01 September 2021: https://dycip.com/eea-maritime-report
• Fourth IMO GHG Study 2020 (PDF): https://dycip.com/imo-ghg-study-2020
• UK Government Department for Transport maritime decarbonisation strategy: https://dycip.com/uk-maritime-decarbonisation
• UK Government Department for Transport written statement to Parliament - the future of UK shipping office for reducing emissions (UK SHORE): https://dycip.com/uk-shipping-emissions