Can the cruise industry go carbon-neutral?

In November 2021, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) made an ambitious proposal. Its member lines, which together form 95% of the global cruise fleet, announced a collective pledge to pursue net-zero emissions by 2050. Perhaps recognising the scale of the undertaking, Pierfrancesco Vago, then chairman of CLIA Global, was quick to adopt a tone of cautious optimism. “We know there is more to be done,” he said. “But the cruise industry has shown both its commitment and its capability to rise to the challenge.”

Four years later and that Goliath challenge, while still daunting, may soon meet its David. Set to launch in November 2026, the 70-metre Captain Arctic is the modern era’s first near-zero emission expedition ship. “Clean exploration has already been achieved by our ancestors, who sailed in simple ships to bold places,” says its co-creator Sophie Galvagnon, who began to design her ship with a paper and pen after 10 years of sailing Arctic waters. “All we have to do is modernise it.”

Made from ice-strengthened tin and carrying just 36 passengers, the ship will — using cutting-edge solar sail technology — be capable of producing six knots of speed from 10 knots of wind. Unused energy will be stored in a battery pack to power the electric propulsion system allowing her to navigate silently. The result, says Galvagnon, is that the Captain Arctic will emit 90% less CO2 than most other boats in the region.

It’s no coincidence that the Captain Arctic is a polar expedition vessel. The fragility of the environments such ships navigate — along with the sheer number of people looking to explore Earth’s last untouched wildernesses — means polar cruise operators are under increasing pressure to improve their green credentials.

According to the CLIA’s State of the Cruise Industry Report 2025, the number of passengers on expedition cruises rose by 22% from 2023 to 2024; more than 120,000 people visited Antarctica in the 2023-24 season compared with 6,400 over the winter of 1991-92. At the same time, cruising in Antarctica has been named among the most energy-intensive tourism market segments, second only to space tourism in terms of its carbon footprint. In a study published August 2025 in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, scientists concluded that emissions from onboard services — known as the ‘hotel load’ — were higher in Antarctica than anywhere else in the world, due in part to fuel-guzzling heating systems. More broadly, Friends of the Earth estimates that the carbon footprint of a week-long cruise is eight times higher than that of a land-based holiday, with a medium-sized cruise ship carrying between 1,000 and 2,400 passengers generating the equivalent CO2 emissions of 12,000 cars over a similar amount of time.

However, national, regional and international regulators are clamping down on marine pollution and helping drive change. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) banned heavy fuel oils in Arctic waters in 2024. While many heavy-polluting ships will still be able to sail in the Arctic thanks to a set of exemptions, these too will end in 2029. But progress continues to be slow and, while Norway planned to make its World Heritage fjords an emission-free zone this year, the ban will now only apply to tourist ships and ferries under 10,000 tons. Bigger ships, including most cruise vessels, will still be allowed to sail the fjords until 2032. Nevertheless, such moves are a sign the industry has recognised that its survival now depends on its willingness to adapt. As Gerry Larsson-Fedde, chief operating officer of Hurtigruten, argues: “Sustainability will increasingly be a licence to operate for cruise companies.”

Fuel for thought

While the cruise sector is currently investing in fuel-flexible ships, shore power systems for hybrid vessels and green fuel pilot schemes to cut emissions, it faces significant barriers to progress, says Wassim Daoud, head of sustainability at Ponant Explorations Group. Ponant has been trialling a fuel called B100, which — like the HVO biofuel that Captain Arctic will rely on when required — is produced from waste oils and fats. “Cruise lines are serious about decarbonisation and making measurable progress,” says Daoud. “But the sector faces three major hurdles: limited green fuel supply, slow port infrastructure development and the long lifespans of existing ships. Without global coordination, innovation and investment, achieving net zero by 2050 will be an uphill battle.”

Iain McNeill, chief operating officer of HX Hurtigruten Expeditions, is more confident. The expedition cruise line was the first to install hybrid batteries in its fleet in 2019 and McNeill says action must be taken now. “The technology for zero-carbon cruising already exists — engines can run on sustainable biofuels, e-methanol or ammonia today — what’s missing is scale. Global fuel production is tiny, infrastructure limited and costs remain several times higher than conventional fuels.” For McNeill, it’s vital that ships built today are fuel flexible and that the industry stimulates demand for new fuels. “With strong government support and public-private partnerships, we believe net-zero cruising by 2050 is not only feasible but could be achieved sooner.”

Many ships have already turned to alternative fuels like liquefied natural gas (LNG). Hybrid engines, which run on a combination of LNG and battery power, have also been adopted, including by OceanEvent on its Explorer vessel and Ponant on its ship Le Commandant Charcot. However, environmental groups have since pointed out that this could in fact make vessels more damaging to the environment. Once hailed as a solution due to its ability to cut CO2 emissions by 25%, LNG is now known to release unburned methane during combustion, earning it heavy criticism from the International Council on Clean Transportation. As the UN has previously asserted, methane has 80 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

While LNG continues to play a role in the cruise sector’s transition to net-zero (at which point the industry’s total greenhouse gas emissions would be equal to or less than those it removed from the environment), there are those looking to craft ships that wouldn’t release emissions in the first place. Hurtigruten wants to reach ‘sea zero’ by 2030 and is currently designing a completely emission-free ship. Using existing and new technologies to reduce energy consumption by 40-50% compared to current models, the 143.5-metre vessel will have two retractable sails covered with solar panels. It will then use contra-rotating propellers and smart energy systems for heating, cooling and the all-important onboard operations.

Ponant is also exploring how it can use wind power to propel a new transoceanic ship set to take to the waves in 2030. Though the technologies are still being studied, the operator has said that the sails have the potential to provide the vessel with 50% of its propulsion energy, while additional power will come from photovoltaic solar panels and a low temperature fuel cell running on liquid hydrogen. Even super-luxury brands like Orient Express are utilising wind technology. Expected to start welcoming passengers in 2026, its 220-metre-long Corinthian yacht will run on a combination of LNG and wind power supplied by three rigid sails.

One benefit of sail technology is that it can reduce, or in some cases entirely replace, a low-emission ship’s reliance on electric batteries, which need to be recharged at ports and consume vast quantities of energy. Like Ponant’s Wassim Daoud, Larsson-Fedde of Hurtigruten cites the lack of supporting infrastructure for large-scale battery systems as one the biggest barriers standing in the way of the cruise industry reaching net zero.

NatPower Marine is hoping to change that with its £250 million global shore power network. The aim is to create 120 fully electrified clean ports around the busiest commercial shipping routes by 2030, improving local air quality by up to 95%. “Cruise ships draw enormous amounts of energy at berth, often more than a small town and that level of demand cannot be simply plugged into a normal port grid — it would crash the system,” says Stefano DM Sommadossi, head of NatPower Marine UK. “The investment to retrofit or build ships with shore power capability is substantial and with only a small fraction of cruise ports worldwide offering shore power, there was little point. Now [EU] legislation is driving change, with shore power provision becoming mandatory at major ports in Europe by 2030 and passenger ships required to plug in once infrastructure is available. Similar rules are emerging in North America and Asia.”

The regeneration game

There is, of course, a rather inconvenient truth lurking behind all this. Even if the cruise industry were to hit net-zero overnight, such an achievement wouldn’t automatically make cruising sustainable in the broader sense. A large zero-emission vessel carrying thousands of passengers would still have an impact on communities and ecosystems, after all. But there are other ways, beyond cutting emissions, that the industry can develop a more regenerative model for cruising, some of which are already being pursued. Royal Caribbean’s 7,600-passenger Icon of the Seas, whose maiden voyage began in January 2024, was the first in the industry to use microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP) to convert solid waste into energy. A similar system, micro auto gasification, is used by Silver Nova, launched by Silversea Cruises in 2023; it converts waste into gas for energy. Then there’s river cruise line Amadeus, one of many now using state-of-the-art water treatment plants to recycle all water used on board.

Microplastics and microfibres are another huge issue in the global marine environment, with the United Nations estimating around 75 to 199 million tonnes is floating in the world’s oceans today. Single-use plastic bans are increasingly commonplace on cruise lines but in September 2025, Marella Cruises went one step further, becoming the first to fit a microfibre capture system. In a joint initiative with the Cleaner Seas Group, Indikon Marine filters have been fitted in the laundry systems of five ships, and are estimated to be able to capture 500kg of microfibre pollution per ship, per year, based on a six-month trial on the Marella Explorer in 2024.

Elsewhere, cruise ships are planning itineraries in conjunction with locals or scrapping set schedules entirely. With no fixed route, Selar’s Captain Arctic is free to carry onboard research scientists to the areas where data is most needed.It’s also developing a waste removal programme which, from 2027, will see the ship remove a minimum of five tonnes of plastic from the shores of Svalbard every year. “Tourism is not going to stop in these remote areas,” says Sophie Galvagnon, “so we must develop regenerative tourism.”

Selar isn’t the only company looking to subvert the traditional cruise. Tahitian shipping company Aranui runs a cargo-passenger hybrid ship called the Aranui 5, which delivers essentials such as food, medicine and building materials during its visits to the remote Marquesas islands in French Polynesia. It also carries back local products, all the while hosting up to 230 guests who explore local communities when they go ashore. A second mixed passenger-freighter is due to launch in 2027.

There’s a lot left to do, and until zero-emission technologies come into play, argues Charlie Cotton of carbon footprint consultancy Ecollective, passengers will need to become more responsible. As far as fuel efficiency is concerned, he says informed customer choice can make all the difference. “A river cruise, for example, uses far less fuel per person compared to an ocean cruise, while a slower cruise not in a race to tick off the highlights of the Med will be far kinder to the planet.” With the fight against climate change gaining momentum, the battle to cut emissions, Cotton says, is no longer “someone else’s problem”.