Maersk ups the green ante, brings net zero targets forward to 2040

Maersk has once again upped the ante among shipping industry participants, bringing its green goals forward by a decade.

In December 2018 the Danish carrier surprised many of its peers by coming out with a pledge to be carbon neutral by 2050. Today the company tightened its environmental targets, aiming for net-zero emission targets by 2040 across its entire business including scope 1, 2, and 3.

To get there, Maersk has also upped its green pledges for 2030. The 2030 targets now include a 50% reduction in emissions per transported container in the Maersk shipping fleet and a 70% reduction in absolute emissions from fully controlled terminals. Depending on growth in the ocean business, this will lead to absolute emissions reductions between 35% and 50% from a 2020 baseline.

Maersk stated today, on January 12, that 25% of all cargo transported at sea will be done on ships using green fuels by 2030, suggesting a very significant fleet renewal is on the cards following the recent first few orders for methanol-fuelled vessels. In terms of Maersk’s growing air operations, the aim is to have at least 30% of cargo transported using sustainable fuels by 2030.

Maersk is Denmark’s largest shipowner. Yesterday, Danish Shipping, the nation’s shipowning association, set out its own plans to accelerate the global green transition of shipping. The strategy has set the ambition of Danish shipping to be climate neutral by 2050 without the use of compensation and to have at least 5% of the Danish-operated fleet capable of running on well-to-wake net zero-emission fuels such as green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol, and advanced biofuels by 2030.

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