BLUE ECONOMY
From the deep abyss to the surface, making the ocean economy a circular model won't be easy. Intensive fishing, decarbonization of ports and sea highways, clean energy production, and new frontiers in deep-sea mining are just some of the open topics to make the Blue Economy, as defined by Gunter Pauli, based on ecosystem regeneration in a logic of abundance and autonomy.
To provide some numbers, Blue Economy in Europe currently generates around €665 billion in revenue and nearly 4.5 million jobs at the European level, while in Italy, it ensures approximately €50 billion annually and 800,000 jobs. An entire supply chain needs to be guided through the transition.
The impact of fishing and aquaculture. Algae as a possible substitute?
According to the FAO, in 1960, humans consumed an average of 9.9 kilograms of fish per capita per year. This figure has more than doubled today, reaching 20.2 kilograms per capita, with an annual production volume of 214 million tonnes. These quantities represent almost 7% of the protein intake of the world's population.
However, the fishing industry has a significant impact on global fish stocks. According to the FAO, 58% of these stocks are being exploited to the maximum. Not to mention the phenomenon of illegal or unreported fishing, which experts estimate could account for about 14-33% of the total, or intensive aquaculture, which does not represent a sustainable alternative to wild fish.
Thus, while it is crucial to introduce fishing techniques that respect marine ecosystems and are based on strict catch quotas, there is also the potential to harness the cultivation of algae as true alternative sources for primary protein production. Macroalgae and microalgae, which stand out for their ability to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, can also be cultivated using organic waste and excess nutrients from aquaculture, such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and CO₂. Furthermore, algae can be used in a variety of sectors, from human nutrition to nutraceuticals, animal and fish feed, cosmetics production, and biogas production.
Ports and shipping decarbonization
Ports are one of the key sectors of the Blue Economy. However, maritime transport has a significant environmental impact, which the OECD has grouped into three categories:
- impacts related to port activities;
- impacts related to ships calling at the port;
- emissions from intermodal transport networks serving the port.
According to the International Energy Agency, in 2021, international maritime transport was responsible for approximately 2% of global CO2 emissions related to energy. This share has returned to the 2015 level and is expected to remain stable until 2025 (an increase in activities is projected), after which it is expected to start decreasing by about 3% per year by 2030.
In Europe, the renewal of fleets is already underway, and alternative fuels such as methanol and hydrogen are being studied. Investments are also being made in onshore measures to decarbonize ports and electrify the consumption of large ships at berth, such as cold ironing.
Quantitatively, a cruise ship docked for 10 hours at a berth produces the same amount of carbon dioxide as 25 mid-sized cars in a year. Moreover, according to the ESPO Environmental Report - EcoPorts inSights 2019, 90% of European ports are located in urban areas, making decarbonization and integrated management of air, water, and noise quality a central issue not only for sustainability but also for public acceptance of these areas.
Energy from the sea: the potential of offshore wind
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the oceans contain five times the annual electricity needs of the entire planet. However, producing energy at sea is challenging. The marine environment is extremely hostile to infrastructure. But storms, rough seas, and corrosion due to saltwater are not the only challenges. In addition to material costs, the variability of wind, waves, and sun affects clean energy production, often making it intermittent.
Certainly, among the various sources, offshore wind farms are the most promising. According to ANEV, around 11 GW of offshore wind capacity is currently installed in Europe, with about 5 GW in the UK alone, and a projected overall potential of about 23 GW by 2020, with 12 GW in the UK alone.
Moreover, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, Italy is the third-largest market in the world for the development of floating wind turbines. Finally, according to Terna data, requests for connection to offshore wind farms in Italy amount to approximately 100 GW.
Minerals at the bottom of the sea
The energy transition requires critical metals, and new frontiers are opening up, just as they did in the old Far-West gold rush. One of these frontiers is deep-sea mining, the mining exploitation of the abyssal depths.
The seabed is rich in precious metals such as copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, silver, gold, lithium, and rare earths. These resources are found in various subsea formations: in the crusts of mountains, particularly rich in cobalt; in the form of polymetallic sulfides at hydrothermal vents; in polymetallic nodules covering abyssal plains.
However, the environmental, social, and economic risks of deep-sea mining are not yet clear. For this reason, there are increasing appeals from local and international NGOs, leaders, and scientists in favor of an international moratorium on such practices. To date, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has decided not to proceed with deep-sea mining until 2025. However, before the suspension, the ISA had already granted 31 exploration licenses covering an area of 1.5 million square kilometers.
An article by Emanuele Bompan and Giorgio Kaldor