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Forum Rallies Executives in Push for Low-Carbon Shipping

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Image courtesy Global Maritime Forum

Published Oct 11, 2017 7:18 PM by The Maritime Executive

The newly formed Global Maritime Forum has partnered with the Carbon War Room, the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) and University College London (UCL) to launch a "Task Force on Decarbonizing Shipping." The new initiative intends to develop "tangible pathways aligned with ambitious, science-based emission reduction targets" and to mobilize the industry to achieve them. 

"We as an industry must step up. We need to be a part of the solution," said Niels Smedegaard, CEO of DFDS. "This calls for a common platform that delivers forward-looking collaboration to support the long-term sustainability of the global shipping industry – economically as well as environmentally.”

The project will be split into five working groups, which will take on the tasks of:

- engaging industry leaders on climate issues;

- helping new clean technologies to achieve commercial uptake;

- improving information transparency about efficient, profitable operations;

- integrating climate risk into lending decisions;

- and exploring carbon pricing as a policy option for shipping. 

The working groups will present their findings at the Forum's first-ever summit in October 2018. 

“The later we leave decarbonization, the more rapid and potentially disruptive it will be for shipping," said Alastair Marsh, CEO of Lloyd’s Register. "This task force will enable industry leaders to come together to determine possible decarbonization pathways, and to promote innovation, collaboration and investment.”

The Global Maritime Forum is the successor organization to the Danish Maritime Forum, and it is based Copenhagen's shipping business district. Its members include containerized cargo firms A.P. Moller-Maersk and Wan Hai Lines; tanker operators GasLog, EuroNav and MISC; coating manufacturer Hempel; commodity trader Trafigura; and the family foundation of shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. In addition to CO2 emissions, the forum's other areas of focus for 2017-18 include digital disruption and the rise of protectionism.