An independent research company has given Klaveness Combination Carriers top marks for its environmental reporting.

The Governance Group (TGG), based in Norway, carried out a survey of the 100 leading Oslo-listed companies.

KCC was awarded an A grade for its latest sustainability report, indicating "excellent reporting in line with best practice".

TGG said KCC had given a good description of material issues and relevant results, with a clear strategy and specific, quantifiable targets.

"ESG is at the core of everything we do in KCC, from daily operations to strategic decisions at board level," said KCC chief financial officer Liv Dyrnes.

"We have high ambitions to improve our ESG performance and a key part of this work is the ability to first measure, and secondly manage, our performance through KPIs and strong reporting."

Dyrnes identifies an increasing focus on these issues from stakeholders.

"We will continue to build on our credibility and transparency in reporting going forward," she said.

The company owns nine Cabu and eight Cleanbu combination carriers, which can carry both dry bulk and liquid cargoes.

The vessels emit up to 40% less CO2 per transported tonne compared to standard tanker and dry bulk vessels in current and targeted combination trading patterns.

KCC said in the report it plans to invest more money in improving the vessels' energy efficiency and better operational procedures, including better speed and routing management.

Continuous work

Meeting its decarbonisation targets also "requires improvements in trading efficiency including further reductions in time in ballast," the company added.

KCC has also pledged to continuously identify, promote and test new technologies and solutions to improve energy efficiency.

These will be tested at first on one or two ships and then rolled out to the whole fleet without delay if successful.

The board has given management a mandate to invest up to $2.5m each year on these initiatives.

Any schemes costing above this amount will be need to be presented to the director for approval.