The Clean Shipping Index [1], which represents 29 major companies involved in shipping goods around the world, said that action by sections of business alone will be insufficient and that “first mover action” at state or regional level has in the past helped trigger action at a wider international level. It said the environment committee’s proposal, which MEPs will vote on tomorrow (Wednesday), aims to achieve this.

In its letter, BICEPS [2], which is a network for AB InBev, AkzoNobel, DSM, Farm Frites, FrieslandCampina, Huntsman, IOI Loders Croklaan, Lamb Weston/Meijer, and Vion Food Group, said it was time to “to boost actions at international level to reduce ship CO₂”. It called on MEPs and EU governments to “ensure that EU related shipping contributes to the EU’s 2030 climate targets from 1 January 2023 via the ETS or Maritime Climate Fund if IMO does not deliver a global measure to address shipping GHG emissions.” The European Commission should facilitate this process, it added.

Welcoming the two critical interventions by shippers, T&E’s shipping director Bill Hemmings said: “Ship CO₂ is completely unregulated and shipping is the only sector in Europe not contributing to the 2030 emissions reduction target. Parliament is right that this must change if the IMO does not act. Lower CO₂ means less climate warming and lower fuel burn, which lowers costs. Thats a win-win for industry, shippers and consumers.”

Clean Shipping Index’s letter

BICEPS Network’s letter

Notes to editors:

[1] The Clean Shipping Network is a non-profit association consisting of committed transport buyers who jointly evaluate carriers and shipping companies on their environmental performance. The evaluation tool Clean Shipping Index is used when procuring transport services by all participating members, delivering a market incentive for clean shipping. Transport buyers use it to calculate and minimise their environmental footprint. Shipowners present the environmental profile of their fleet to a network of large customers who consider this in procurement situations. Shipowners also use it as a bench-marking tool in order to identify areas for environmental improvement. The aim: a market demand for clean ships.

https://www.cleanshippingindex.com/partners/

[2] The BICEPS Network is a market initiative of a demand-driven global network of shippers aimed at driving sustainable change in the shipping sector and consists of international companies with global goods flows. The BICEPS Network’s aims are:

• Collaboration of shippers: organising the power of demand for sustainable change to establish a global network of shippers with sufficient volume in the market to exert influence and drive change. To that end, the Network has developed the BICEPS Rating System.

• Accelerating and scaling up market-ready innovations and sustainable initiatives: through an active dialogue between supply and demand of shippers with ship owners, chain partners and solutions providers.

https://bicepsnetwork.org/about/