SWEDEN, June 28 - Twelve of Sweden’s biggest importers and exporters are now placing environmental demands on their shipping operators. The twelve companies are asking shipowners to report environmental data that will be used as input to a new index developed by the Clean Shipping Project. The deadline is the end of August. “This is a winning concept for many parties and will lead to a more sustainable growth” says Jan Hallberg, chairman of the The Göteborg Region Association of Local Authorities.
This is the first time an environmental index has been developed to evaluate shipping companies as a whole. Twelve of Sweden’s biggest importers and exporters have signed a letter of intent to place demands on their shipping suppliers and to use the environmental demands described by the Clean Shipping Project as part of their procurement criteria.
The twelve companies are ABB, Astra Zeneca, Ericsson, H&M, Preem Petroleum, Skanska Sweden, SKF, Stora Enso Logistics, Tetra Laval, Vattenfall, V&S Group and Volvo Logistics. Together, these companies are now asking 77 of the world’s largest shipping operators to report environmental information through the Clean Shipping Index. The reporting deadline is the 31st August this year.
Emissions from industry and land-based transport to air and water are decreasing. At the same time, emissions from shipping are increasing. Emissions of oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and particles from ship motors lead to thousands of deaths brought forward each year. The Clean Shipping Project has developed a completely new environmental index – the Clean Shipping Index – which major shipping customers can used during procurement to evaluate the environmental performance of shipping operators. The index addresses 20 factors that can affect the environment, including marine fuel, lubricants, bilge water, ballast water, antifouling paint, refrigerants and waste. The Swedish shipping industry are among the leaders when it comes to implementation of environmental measures and Swedish operators are likely to be highly ranked by the index. A high ranking represents a competitive advantage and environmental gains both for the shipping operator and its customers. This is a driving force that has previously been lacking in the shipping industry. International environmental legislation for shipping is currently very poor although some improvements may slowly be emerging.
The Clean Shipping Project is driven by public authorities in western Sweden; Göteborg Region Association of Local Authorities, the Region of Västra Götaland, Västra Götaland County Administration and Business Region Göteborg. The project is also financed by the EU Structural Fund “Objective 2”. It is a non-profit project with the goal of cleaner shipping and sustainable growth. The Clean Shipping Index is published today on the project website (www.cleanshippingproject.se) and is freely available for anyone to use. In the autumn, Clean Shipping Project and the twelve companies will enlarge their network to include additional companies that have shown great interest in the project. Non-Swedish companies are also welcome to participate in the network.
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