Fighting carbon is a team sport

A growing number of freight carriers have joined the movement to green up their operations, whether it’s by shifting to alternative fuels or adopting emissions-control technologies. But containership giant A.P. Møller-Maersk says those efforts won’t gain real traction without broad collaboration among trading partners.

As the company continues to firm up its own plan to decarbonize operations by 2050, Maersk says it is looking to partner with customers and other members of the global logistics industry to drive innovation across the supply chain. As a case in point, the company in 2019 introduced a carbon-zero product called Eco Delivery that gives customers a certified carbon-neutral shipping option that uses sustainable biofuel. 

“Decarbonization is an important agenda for the industry and for Maersk. We are part of the problem and so must be part of the solution,” Maersk North America Managing Director Narin Phol said in a release. “Around half of Maersk’s 200 largest customers have set—or are in the process of setting—ambitious science-based or zero-carbon targets for their supply chains, and the figure is on the rise. We don’t have all the answers; therefore, the process requires a lot of collaboration to achieve a common goal.”

The push for collaboration builds on Maersk’s ongoing efforts to become carbon neutral in three decades’ time. It has set an interim target of reducing CO₂ emissions for ocean shipping by 60% per container per kilometer moved by 2030 and has reportedly made good progress toward that goal—having reduced emissions by 46% from the 2008 baseline. Last year, it announced that it would have its first carbon-neutral liner vessel on the water by 2023.