BSR is a global member-based organization whose objective is to build a just and sustainable world, through working with business enter prises engaged in the production of Consumer Products, Energy, Financial Services, Food, Beverage, and Agriculture, Health Care, Information and Communications Technology, Media and Entertainment, Transportation and Logistics, and Travel and Tourism.
From its offices in Asia, Europe, and North and South America, BSR develops sustainable business strategies and solutions through consulting, research, and cross-sector collaboration. BSR shows companies how to create opportunities from global challenges, derive value from sustainability, and maintain competitive advantage while benefiting the world. BSR leads member companies in working groups and grant-supported initiatives that enable collective action, resulting in comprehensive, lasting solutions that make a global impact. For nearly two decades, BSR has been working in boardrooms, communities, and factories in more than 70 countries to achieve results that go beyond traditional business outcomes.
BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) is dedicated to improving the environmental performance of ocean container transport. CCWG develops standardized methodologies to measure key environmental performance indicators and easy-to-use tools that meet both ship ping customers and cargo carriers’ needs to reduce environmental impacts. Container carriers have been reporting their CO2 performance to their customers in a credible and comparable format, based on the CCWG CO2 methodology—the only existing and broadly recognized industry standard for container shipping—for the past five years. This reporting and dialogue enables shipping customers to calculate the environmental impacts of transporting goods around the world and benchmark carriers’ performance. Having this information helps shipping customers make informed buying decisions in their supply chains.
Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG), which counts Maersk, Mitsui O.S.K., OOCL, ZIM, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA-CGM, Cosco, Hamburg Sud, NYK, Yang Ming, Hanjin Shipping and other carriers among its worldwide membership, recently released its 2013 Progress Report, 2013 Collabo rative Progress report—which provides data from more than 2,300 ships, representing more than 60 per cent of global ocean container capacity—indicates that average carbon-dioxide emissions for global ocean container transport have declined year on year, and by more than 7 per cent between 2011 and 2012. This progress report features the group’s fourth-annual release of its carbon-dioxide global emissions factors table, providing high-quality, trade-lane-specific emissions factors that companies can use to determine the carbon footprint of moving goods.
The report showed that since 2009, based on data from carriers representing more than 60 per cent of global ocean container capacity, there has been a 16 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions, measured as grams of CO2 per dry TEU kilometre, from 75.16 grams in 2009 to 63.1 in 2012. Emissions associated with the carriage of reefer containers declined by 4.2 per cent during the same period, from 98.23 grams in 2009 to 94.1 grams in 2012.
While changes in carrier representation or global trade conditions may account for part of the emissions reductions described in the report, the continued performance improvement is also attributed to carrier fleet efficiency and year-on-year improvements in data quality. The report, which includes data from 16 of the world’s leading ocean container carriers, also highlights how the group has improved the measurement, evaluation, and reporting of environmental performance data for global shipping customers and ocean transport providers.
“Membership in Clean Cargo brings us great business value, and it’s clear from the results that the group continues to drive improvement,” said Barry Wallace, Marks and Spencer’s Logistics Manager, International Freight. “Calculating the ocean-related emissions of our products is a complex exercise, and being part of Clean Cargo simplifies the process by giving us reliable data and one-stop access to our major ocean carriers.”
Clean Cargo’s 2013 Progress Report is available online at http://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/report-view/collaborative-progress-clean-cargo-working-group-progress-report-2013.