Cruise lines are relying on cutting-edge technology to clean up their acts

The cruise industry has a poor environmental record, has been regularly fined for flouting environmental regulations, and produces opaque and selective environmental reporting.

On the other hand, cruise lines are making changes, and none are more ambitious than those that address how ships are fuelled. Biofuels, lower-emission fuels and less-polluting onshore power supply while in port are high on the agenda.

Statistics from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents most of the world’s cruise lines, show slow progress in the right direction.

In 2018, only one cruise ship had dual-fuel capacity while 55 had the technology to use onshore power. In 2025, that was up to 23 and 166 ships, respectively. CLIA represents 310 ships in total.

For a while, cruise lines touted their use of liquid natural gas (LNG) as a fuel. That was a positive move, since LNG is the most eco-friendly marine fuel available. But it does remain a fossil-fuel pollutant.

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The cruise industry aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050, which is laudable, but read the small print because achieving it depends on significant engineering breakthroughs and regulatory approvals.

Some breakthroughs are already here. In October 2025, Norwegian company Hurtigruten, whose ships sail on blended biofuel, celebrated the first entirely climate-neutral biofuel journey by the battery-hybrid ship MS Richard With.

Hurtigruten has invested heavily in technical and environmental upgrades to its fleet to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and, in the long term, aims to sail completely emission-free in normal operation by 2030.

Another inventive company worth watching is Ponant, which in early 2024 became the first ocean cruise line to be awarded official Green Globe Certification, recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

Ponant had previously abandoned heavy fuel and is now completing the fitting of its fleet with shore-power connection systems and catalytic systems to reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions.

The company is also involved in European projects to advance innovative low-carbon energy technologies, among them a sail power system and hull that aims to provide 50 per cent of required propulsion energy using wind power.

Meanwhile, Viking’s newest ship, Viking Libra, the world’s first hydrogen-powered cruise ship, launches in Europe this November.

The propulsion system is only partially based on liquefied hydrogen and fuel cells, so it won’t be operating with zero emissions all the time, but it’s a step in the right direction. Viking Libra will be the company’s most environmentally friendly vessel, and another will follow in 2027.