Citizenship
Taking active responsibility to support the societies where we operate is grounded in our Core Values and an expectation to us from our key stakeholders.
Why citizenship matters
Logistics services play a key role in many crisis situations. From environmental clean-ups to natural disasters, and from food shortages to healthcare emergencies, logistics is the means to get help where it is needed.
But the most urgent challenges demand concerted action. That’s why we partner with civil society actors, our industry peers, academia, local authorities, and communities to build capacity, prepare emergency responses, and support action on the ground.

Progress in 2021
- Continued focus on COVID-19 related support for donations
- Continued collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup as part of the extended partnership towards 2023 covering offshore and logistics support
- Conducted ‘GoGreen’ week for employee engagement across all Maersk sites, encouraging colleagues to support local cleanups, climate action, water stress, biodiversity loss and more.

Our ambition
We engage in select global partnerships that leverage Maersk assets and skills to make an impact in prioritized areas aligned with Maersk’s business and sustainability goals. We support local communities and partners with donations and social investments guided by corporate guidelines.

Priorities and actions
Taking active responsibility to support the societies where we operate is grounded in our Values and an expectation to us from our key stakeholders.
Priority causes:
- Disaster relief and preparedness
- Empowering for trade
- Protect natural environment and oceans
- Education and training
- Health and safety
- COVID-19-related donations (since 2020)
Keeping the COVID-19 response moving
As COVID-19 cases surged in India in spring 2021, we established a global control tower to help the government manage the inbound flow of treatment equipment. We also airlifted vaccines and personal protection equipment, particularly into Nepal.
Partnering with UNICEF, we agreed to give their vaccine-related shipments special priority. This meant transporting them free of charge with reserved space on our vessels, using a system that automatically flagged COVID-19 shipments.
Having ensured compliance with competition law, we also collaborated with shipping peers to gain oversight and solve shipping issues for UNICEF to avoid delays in the implementation of their vaccination programme.

Support for disaster relief
Maersk has been a member of the UN-led Logistics Emergency Teams (LET) partnership since 2011. Together with logistics peers Agility, UPS, and DP World, we contribute logistics support for disaster relief and preparedness in cases of major natural disasters and complex local emergencies.

Supporting action on ocean plastic
Maersk has partnered with The Ocean Cleanup since 2018, providing offshore and logistics support for their cleanup systems in oceans and rivers. In July 2021, the non-profit environmental organisation launched their second ocean campaign, which resulted in their second proof of the system working, while collecting 37 tonnes of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Maersk Sustainability Report 2021
