Dive Brief:
- Commodities trader Cargill set a goal for food manufacturers in its international shipping units to cut carbon emissions 15% by 2020 and meet U.N. regulations, Reuters reports.
- Cargill also seeks to cut total greenhouse gas emissions by 10% across its entire operation by 2025.
- The company is leasing newer, more fuel efficient ships while also working with its current leased fleet of 650 vessels to reduce emissions via retrofits.
Dive Insight:
The global shipping industry is responsible for 2.5% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The derogatory effect these massive ships used to carry around 90% of world trade can have on the environment, especially the oceans, is huge.
As a result, and in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) —also known as the Paris Agreement of 2016 — the IMO this year adopted an initial strategy on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships.
In addition to reducing GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050, compared to 2008, the IMO is pursuing efforts toward phasing them out entirely. Two more key points of the new strategy include implementing further phases of energy efficiency design for new ships and reducing CO2 emissions per transport work, as an international average, by at least 40% by 2030.
Cargill, while not owning its own ships, is working to make the shipping companies it works with to become more efficient and help the IMO reach its goals.
"Cargill firmly believes that reducing CO2 in ocean transportation is the right thing to do and makes economic sense," a Cargill spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive. "The maritime shipping industry must do its part to reduce its impact in the face of a changing climate. We welcome the agreement reached by the IMO, and we have previously called for aggressive targets in the dry bulk shipping industry to reduce CO2 emissions."
In fact, the spokesperson noted, the company’s newly published corporate responsibility report for ocean transportation was being written prior to the IMO decision.
