In order to provide a more complete picture of the sustainability of a marine fuel, sustainability concerns should be understood and addressed over the full lifecycle, commonly referred to as well-to-wake.
Lifecycle refers to all stages in the lifecycle of marine fuels – both well-to-tank and tank-to-wake (therefore well-to-wake).
- Well-to-tank includes, but is not limited to, operations leading to the production of the fuel (e.g., cultivation, harvesting, collection and recovery for feedstock-based fuels; or primary energy production for electrofuels), including changes in carbon pools, forgone carbon sequestration and indirect land use change, the production of the fuel, conversion processes (including but not limited to liquefaction, synthesis or compression), end-of-life treatment of by-products and waste streams, transportation and distribution, storage and bunkering.
- Tank-to-wake includes, but is not limited to, the application of the fuel on board of the ship (through e.g., combustion in vessel engines or fuel cell propulsion) and, if applicable, end of life treatment (e.g., for batteries and fuel cells).
