Environmental groups are putting pressure on liner operators and major retailers that use their services to find the way to zero-emission shipping as soon as possible.
Stand.earth and Pacific Environment have urged 15 major container-ship operators and Walmart, Target, Amazon and Ikea to work together toward that goal.
The US-based green organisations named operators CMA CGM, AP Moller-Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Co, Evergreen Line, Cosco Shipping Lines, Yang Ming Marine Transport and Hapag-Lloyd in the call. They also targetted Amazon’s non-vessel operating common carrier, AMZD.
These 15 carriers account for 97% of container-ship carbon emissions because these four retail giants rely almost exclusively on them to transport goods, they said in a 23-page report.
"There is ample room for retail brands and cargo carriers to absorb the cost of transitioning to fossil-free, zero-emissions shipping and deliver healthier air to our port communities and a livable climate future," said Kendra Ulrich, Stand.earth's shipping campaign director.
The green groups said the liners and retailers should put their unprecedented profits from the Covid-19 shipping crunch toward implementing zero-emission solutions such as wind-propelled shipping.
Plenty of money
Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM each posted more than $3bn in profits in the first half of 2021, up 2,500% from a year ago, while resisting the call for carbon-free shipping, the groups said.
Calls to these three liner operators were not immediately returned.
“Major cargo carriers are lagging in moving towards zero emissions, citing that costs have been prohibitive," said Madeline Rose, Pacific Environment's climate campaign director.
"There are no longer any excuses left to set goals to meet zero emissions for 2030."
The four major retailers' use of transpacific routes between China and the US accounted for 21% of emissions between 2018 and 2020.
Stand.earth and Pacific Environment said the need for zero-emission shipping is "starting to sink in" with retailers, however, as governments ratchet up the pressure.
They said Amazon joined the First Movers Coalition's drive toward decarbonisation at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow and committed to moving 10% of freight on zero-emissions ships by 2030.
Governments and CEOs also launched the Clydebank Declaration to establish green shipping corridors, and Amazon and Ikea aim to stop using fossil-fueled ships by 2040.
