Investors should call on shipping firms to adopt decarbonisation goals – MMMCZCS
A new report suggests that investors should urge shipping firms to adopt interim emissions reduction targets and disclose their current emissions data.
PHOTO: Oil tanker with smoke trail. Getty Images
Shipping firms should disclose their emissions/mt of cargo transported, it says.
The report, published jointly by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMCZCS), analyses the role of investors in reducing carbon emissions in shipping.
It says interim emissions reduction targets should include immediate action plans instead of postponing it to later years. Investors should also push firms to disclose both near-term and medium-term targets, and report annually on investments and progress made towards these goals.
Shipping firms should also disclose their strategy for their fleet's transition to zero-carbon fuels, including demand projections and infrastructure needs.
“Companies that have already implemented LNG or biofuel blending as a near-term strategy should address how they will transition fully to zero-carbon fuels, consistent with their target,” the report argues.
Investors can also ask shipping firms to disclose fleet upgrade plans covering both newbuilds and vessel retrofits. The report notes that both technological and operational means to reduce fuel consumption and emissions are readily available. These include wind-assisted propulsion, route optimisation and speed reduction methods.
Investors can play a key role towards decarbonisation “by requesting and financing real climate action from stakeholders across the maritime ecosystem,” the MMCZCS' chief executive Bo Cerup-Simonsen says.
By Shilpa Sharma
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