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Maersk Gauges CO2, Helps Starbucks Cut Emissions (Update1)
2010-11-02 14:50:18.700 GMT
(Adds Maersk Line comments in sixth paragraph)
By Catherine Airlie
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Maersk Line, the shipping unit of
Copenhagen-based A P Moller Maersk A/S, said it's the first such
company to verify its emissions of carbon dioxide, helping
companies such as Starbucks Corp. reduce greenhouse gases.
Maersk is taking the lead among shipping lines on verifying
emissions, Lloyds Register Group, a risk-management company,
said today in an e-mailed statement. Shipping accounts for about
3 percent of global CO2 emissions, a greenhouse gas linked to
climate change, according to the United Nation's International
Maritime Organization, which met Oct. 4 to discuss cutbacks. The
European Union has asked the industry to slash emissions by 20
percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
"The next challenge is to get other shipping lines to
participate and thereby make independent verification an
industry standard," Jacob Sterling, head of climate and
environment at Maersk Line, said in the statement.
Governments from around the world will meet in Cancun,
Mexico, later this month for a second round of talks on a
climate accord to replace or extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol,
which expires in 2012. The talks, sponsored by the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change, failed to result in a deal in
Copenhagen last year.
Starbucks, the world's largest coffee-shop chain, said
shipping lines can help them lower their overall greenhouse gas
emissions. "Quantified measurement and verification is a step
in the right direction," John Bauer, director of global
transportation at Starbucks, said in the statement.
Questions
"We've had increasing questions over the past two or three
years from our customers about our CO2 emissions," Sterling
said in a phone interview today from New York. "We could either
do nothing and risk losing customers, or take it a step further
and try to win business by providing more services that can help
reduce the CO2 footprint of our customers."
Maersk, which operates about 500 container ships around the
world, slashed its emissions 7 percent in the last 18 months by
reducing the speed of its fleet. This method, known as slow
steaming, saves fuel and came in response to the 2009 global
economic slowdown, Sterling said.
"Slow steaming is now here to stay," and the company has
a target of cutting emissions by 25 percent from 2007 levels by
2020, he said.
"There needs to be regulation of CO2 emissions for the
whole shipping industry, and the IMO would be best placed to do
this," Sterling said. "We're quite disappointed with progress
so far," he said.
For Related News and Information:
Today's top power, energy news PTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
For top environmental stories GREEN <GO>
Emissions, alternative-energy markets page EMIS <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Rob Verdonck.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
