Sustainability at A.P. Moller - Maersk

A.P. Moller - Maersk is committed to ensuring that our business practices are safe, responsible and transparent, in accordance with our Core Values and the principles of the UN Global Compact on human rights, labour rights, environment and anti-corruption, and contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Sustainability report 2020

Our commitments on decarbonisation

Decarbonisation is a strategic imperative for our industry and our company. We are intensifying our efforts to achieve net zero emissions and support our customers to decarbonise their supply chains.

2023

Net zero vessels in operation

By 2023, have the first carbon-neutral operated vessel on the water.

2030

60% relative CO₂ reduction from shipping

By 2030, deliver 60% relative reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to 2008 levels.

2050

Net zero CO₂ emissions

By 2050, have net zero CO₂ emissions from our own ocean operations.

Future fuels and vessels

Our research shows that net zero technologies are available, and we will not use transition fuels (such as LNG) but leapfrog to fully net zero fuels.

Continued progress on efficiency

By end 2020, we had achieve 46.3% reduction in emissions compared to 2008, with 2.5% of that achieved in 2020 alone.

Pathways to 2050

We are working with customers, partners and regulators to build the market, fuel supply chains and policy frameworks to support net zero emissions shipping.

The latest scientific assessments leave no doubt that the world must embark on an all-encompassing transformation process away from the reliance on fossil fuels. This goes for shipping as well, and we have taken steps to respond to this need. With our size and industry reach, we have the opportunity to be a driving force in decarbonising shipping and logistics. We are both able and willing to take that role upon us. Our current ambition is to have net-zero CO2 emissions from our own operations by 2050, with net-zero emission vessels in operation by 2023, and to reduce our relative CO2 emissions by 60% in 2030 compared to 2008.

We see it as our obligation – as an industry leader and with the resources available to us – to do all we can to get to a carbon neutral fleet as fast as possible and to help our customers decarbonise their global supply chains end to end. Our efforts on decarbonisation have been anchored in a dedicated function counting more than 50 people, tasked with ensuring collaboration across commercial, operational, technological, and corporate entities, and making decarbonisation an even stronger strategic priority across the business.

Today, half of our top-200 customers have set net zero or science-based carbon reduction targets. Our customers look to us to provide solutions that help them solve the supply chain emission problem. A. P. Moller - Maersk has been committed since to set a science-based target, and we are actively engaging with the Science-Based Target Initiative on developing a methodology for shipping.

We see it as our responsibility to offer end-to-end solutions to support our customers’ ambitions to decarbonise their supply chains. While we are actively working to further extending our product offerings with solutions tackling CO2 reductions, solutions to track, report, as well as reduce emissions are already available today.

Decarbonisation Solution offerings from Maersk

Maersk ECO Delivery

Transport your goods in a more sustainable way with Maersk ECO Delivery. Using biofuel, it's still one of only a few options for net-zero emission shipping in the global market. Learn more about how certification and auditing are handled.

Emissions Dashboard

Be part of the green solution. Maersk’s Emissions Dashboard consolidates your emissions data in one place and helps you plan for a sustainable future through systematic reduction of carbon footprint.

Contact our experts

Do you want to learn more about decarbonising logistics in your company? Get our advice how to explore ways of lowering your environmental footprint by reducing CO2 emissions.

The physical effects of climate change are already evident in the form of heat and water stress, precipitation, storms, and rising sea levels. These effects will intensify regardless of collective action taken today to decarbonise, just as physical climate change risk for our customers and our business operations will increase.

Moreover, the transition to a 2.0-degree pathway will likely be a source of major disruption (transition risk) in and of itself because of the accompanying government policies and changed consumption patterns. And a 2.0- degree pathway will entail ongoing material risk of accelerated climate change (tipping points) and abrupt policy changes in response.

These scenarios confirm to us the urgency of climate action to mitigate the risks to our own business and stay relevant in the market by supporting our customers to decarbonise their supply chains. Climate change, more specifically the risk of not decarbonising our end-to-end supply chain at a speed that matches our customers’ and investors’ expectations, was in 2020 confirmed by our executive leadership as one of the top enterprise risks to Maersk.

Read about our 2020 performance and activities on pages 16-22 in the 2020 Sustainability Report.

The transition will not happen without strong regulatory frameworks. These processes take time, but there is real benefit to having a global solution to create a more level playing field. Adequate policy frameworks must not only secure that low performers are held accountable, but also that the first movers are rewarded for the risks taken on behalf of the whole industry.

In parallel, private action and advocacy initiatives should also continue. We are very proud to have been part of the launch in 2020 of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping. This independent centre will engage scientists from all over the world in trying to find solutions on fuels for shipping.

We continue to engage actively in the Getting to Zero coalition, and beyond our own sector we have joined with a group of other leadership companies in the Transform to Net Zero initiative, launched in 2020, which aims to lead by example, developing guidance and pilot projects to enable all businesses to achieve net zero emissions.

We have conducted extensive analyses of the available technology and fuel options for net zero carbon operations.

Based on this work, we have concluded that there are technologies that are mature enough for us to participate in their development to scale by acting as an ambitious customer.

In response to the increased urgency of delivering on decarbonisation, we believe that the right thing to do is to leapfrog to pure net zero vessel technology without any transitional technologies.

Four priority fuels for net zero emissions shipping:

Fuel	Key advantages	Key limitations/risks
Fuel Biodiesel	Key advantages Can be used as drop-in fuel in existing vessels and engines	Key limitations/risks Limited availability of biomass feedstock a challenge to scalability Price pressure due to high demand from competing industries
Fuel Methanol (bio-methanol and e-methanol)	Key advantages Already in operation as marine fuel Engine is available Liquid at normal conditions,well-known handling	Key limitations/risks Bio-methanol: Production at scale is challenged by uncertainty over availability of biomass E-methanol: Availability of biogenic CO2 source at production site, cost and maturity of electrolyser technology
Fuel Lignin fuels A new biofuel based on biomass residue (lignin) and alcohols (methanol or ethanol)	Key advantages Lignin fuels are promising, since lignin is a component in plant residues that theoretically is available in high volumes and at low cost. If the technical barriers can be solved, lignin fuels can potentially become one of the lowest priced carbon neutral fuels for marine purposes.	Key limitations/risks In development stage, production needs to be scaled up to create a new value chain and infrastructure for supply Engine requirements would be the same as for methanol, but additional handling of contaminants may be required
Fuel Ammonia (green ammonia)	Key advantages Fully zero emissions fuel Can be produced at scale from renewable electricity alone	Key limitations/risks Safety and toxicity challenges Infrastructure challenges at ports Future cost depends on cost of renewable electricity and cost/maturity of electrolyser technology