Royal Caribbean Cruises chief executive Richard Fain said the cruise industry has much more that it needs to achieve to improve its environmental footprint.
The head of the world's second-largest cruiseship group said that he is proud of the industry's environmental accomplishments so far but he urged the industry to do better than governments.
He told the Seatrade Cruise Global conference that Royal Caribbean is aiming to improve its environmental impact in three areas: emissions of greenhouse gases, sustainable food production and sustainable destination tourism.
LNG and clean power
Fain touted the sector's efforts to improve its emissions by ordering newbuildings that run on LNG and clean power technologies that reduce emissions.
"We as an industry have gotten a lot more efficient over the years. ... We need to keep moving in that direction," he said, explaining that this is an era in which government cannot be relied on as a good guarantor of the Earth's health. "That really puts an extra onus on us in private industry. We need to be a champion of that cause."
He said that the industry needs to partner with outside groups to help it improve its environmental profile, such as Royal Caribbean's own partnership with the World Wildlife Fund.
Fain said it is good to set goals that are absolutes, such as Royal Caribbean's policy to end disposal into the ocean.
Absolutes are easier to understand and to enforce.
"It's a lot easier to achieve zero then nice-sounding but ambiguous terms like 'as little as possible'," he said. "'Zero' is a powerful term."
