Had he continued working aboard fuel-powered cargo ships, Yann Jourdan reckons he would be earning perhaps four times what he now gets as captain of a sailboat that instead uses the wind’s clean energy to transport goods across the Atlantic.

But the hit to Jourdan’s pay is buying him peace of mind. When his 3-year-old son, Marcel, grows up, the burly French mariner wants to be able to explain what he did to make a dent in the the shipping industry’s huge carbon footprint.

The international merchant fleet of more than 100,000 ships transports more than 80% of global trade. But it is also responsible for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Without a quick switch from dirty fuels to cleaner energies, its pollution is forecast to soar.

Mariners pushing for wind power say investors

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