By Priti Naik
The largest shipping firm Maersk has committed to provide net zero supply chains to customer by 2040. The company’s target covers all direct and indirect emission across Maersk’s businesses. The indirect emission includes vessel building and inland transportation carried out by third party suppliers. The new net zero target cuts 10 years off the group’s previous 2050 target, and brings it further ahead of the current IMO 2050 ambition to reduce total annual emissions from shipping by at least 50% compared to 2008 levels.
The company is expecting that its emission targets will align with the Net Zero criteria of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) pathway to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius. It will follow SBTi’s recommendation during the decade “to go above and beyond the 1.5°C-aligned targets and invest in building a portfolio of natural climate solutions that will result in around five million tons of CO2 savings per year by 2030.”
The milestone targets have been set for 2030 to ensure progress this decade that includes cutting emissions per transported container by 50% in the ocean fleet, and 70% absolute reduction of greenhouse gases in its fully-controlled terminals. Absolute emission reductions from the ocean fleet will depend on fleet growth, but will range from 35%-50% from 2020 levels.
A minimum of 30% of air cargo will be transported using sustainable aviation fuels, and contract logistics and cold chain operations will have a minimum 90% use of fuels and energy with low or very low lifecycle GHG emissions. For its ocean vessels, Maersk backed methanol as a future fuel in August 2021 when it ordered eight dual-fuel 16,000 teu container ships at HHI.
