coZEV welcomes ten new members to support green shipping

Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) has welcomed ten additional member, climate-leading companies, including Mondelēz International, Pledge, Reckitt, and REI Co-op. Flexport, Meta, Nestle, Royal Coffee, Standing CT, and Trek Bikes.

As explained, the firms joined the coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement, aiming to transition all of their ocean freight to vessels powered by ZE fuels by 2040.

This now brings the total number of members to over 35 freight buyers working together to drive ambition and action toward ZE ocean transport.

coZEV announced these additional company partners at COP28 in Dubai as part of the Green Shipping Challenge, a joint initiative between the United States and Norway originally launched at COP27 to help put the shipping sector on a path this decade that is aligned with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C . 

The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), an initiative of coZEV formed in March 2023, welcomed the addition of four new members: Mondelēz International, Pledge, Reckitt, and REI Co-op, bringing the total to 26 members. These global players are working to fast-track commercial deployment of ZE shipping services at scale and create a competitive market for these services through the ZEMBA-facilitated forward procurement process.

In September 2023, ZEMBA launched its first Request for Proposals (RfP) for emissions reduction associated with 600,000 twenty-foot containers (TEUs) over a three-year period on ocean vessels powered by ZE fuels.

This is expected to help ZEMBA members reduce nearly 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions, and equates to avoiding the emissions of four Ultra Large Container Vessels each transporting 270 million TEU-miles per year of deployment. 

ZEMBA is currently evaluating qualified bids and a winner of the first ZEMBA tender will be announced in spring 2024. 

Originally launched ahead of COP26, the coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement has been a historic collective signal of cargo owner support for a transition to ZE solutions on a 1.5℃ aligned trajectory and remains the most widely adopted and ambitious 1.5℃ aligned collective private sector-led maritime decarbonization goal to date. Six additional companies – Flexport, Meta, Nestle, Royal Coffee, Standing CT, and Trek Bikes – have joined the 19 existing signatories in stating their intention to only use ZE ocean transport by 2040.

“This year, the maritime industry has demonstrated progress towards a zero-emission future through new investments in dual fuel vessels and at ports, offtake agreements for more climate-friendly fuels, and signals from policymakers of renewed interest in policy support for the nascent ZE shipping market. The work being done by climate-leading freight buyers engaged with coZEV, including policy engagement and ambition signaling, and particularly through ZEMBA’s advanced market commitment, has been an important factor in stimulating that movement,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, Director of coZEV and President and CEO of ZEMBA. 

“The Green Shipping Challenge is the perfect opportunity to welcome new companies to the coZEV family of climate leaders and expand our relationship with existing champions. Climate-leading cargo owners have a crucial role to play in driving decarbonization in a hard-to-abate sector that is the lifeblood of global trade. As we continue to develop innovative ways to collaborate for impact and build economies of scale, we encourage other companies looking to influence the decarbonization trajectory of this essential industry to join us.”