Despite neither group receiving extremely high marks in Ship It Zero’s today-launched report card system, carriers are outperforming their customers in the fight to decarbonize supply chains.
In order to score the decarbonization activities of shippers and shipping lines, a coalition of US environmental organisations called Ship It Zero developed a ranking system based on its three demands: to halt port pollution, abandon polluting ships, and to put zero at the helm.
A stunning 0 out of 100 was earned by two shippers, Ashley Furniture and Living Spaces, while Costco only managed an 8 out of 100, earning them all an F. Nearly 80% of the shippers—15 out of 19—were graded F.
Unsurprisingly, shippers are sceptical of the efficacy of such an accreditation programme without standards of what qualifies as green. James Hookham, director of the Global Shippers’ Forum, queries “Who set the standards and are those standards transparent and scientific?”
He continued, “Naming and shaming doesn’t help motivate people, we all know there is a problem.”
Only four, or 40%, of the 10 shipping lines evaluated received a F grade; the lowest-scoring line was Pacific International Lines (PIL), which received a score of 17/100. Taiwan’s two largest lines, Yang Ming and Evergreen, received scores of 39 and 39.5/100, respectively. German carrier Hapag-Lloyd received an unexpected F grade with a final score of 33.5.
It should come as no surprise that Scandinavia performed well on both the carrier and shipper lists, with Maersk earning a B grade with a respectable 76.5/100 and IKEA topping the list with 89/100, but only managing a B+ grade rather than an A.
Among other well-known brands, Nike and H&M both received a D, scoring 45 and 46.5 points, respectively.
Ship It Zero states that its “Shipping Decarbonization Report Card is designed to evaluate major retailers and shipping carriers on their commitment to rapid decarbonisation and development of zero emissions fuels for maritime shipping.”
Few shippers, according to Ship It Zero, have accepted responsibility for helping to decarbonize shipping. The group claimed that “many are not even quantifying Scope 3 emissions, which include shipping.”
Furthermore, shipping companies have not taken into account the effects on port communities and are not decarbonizing quickly enough.
According to the environmental organisation, “most carriers have only committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, a timeframe that will not limit global temperature rise to 1.5° C,” and carriers are dependent on dubious technologies like LNG and scrubbers.
