GSF Calls for Carbon Emissions Transparency

The Secretary General of the Global Shippers’ Forum, Chris Welsh, outlined the need for transparency of carbon emissions and interventions while speaking at the 4th Shipping and Offshore Corporate and Social Responsibility Forum Tuesday.

According to Welsh, transparency is essential in order for shippers to be able to identify their carbon footprint.

“Leading edge shippers, charters and carriers are making substantial progress in establishing common methodologies for measuring, recording and verifying carbon emissions.

 The drive is led by customers who are calling for greater transparency in carbon emissions data to benchmark the energy efficiency of carriers so that they cannot only identify their supply chain emissions, but also to take appropriate interventions to reduce supply chain carbon emissions,” Welsh added.

Entitled ‘Driving Transformation through the value chain – the demand for CSR by Shippers’ the GSF presentation referred to comments from leading shippers and their motivation of working towards that goal:

• Reporting carbon emissions within logistics supply chains is essential to demonstrate to customers that businesses are managed in a sustainable way
• Being at the forefront of changes in their market sectors
• Consumers and customers associate brands with doing business in an environmentally ethical way – ie better than other competitors
• A commitment to achieving financial results in the right way
• Corporate values underpin what drives businesses and what direction they should take

GSF voiced their support to the ongoing work of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to develop a data collection system for measuring fuel usage across shipping, saying that it is an essential first step to creating an international carbon reporting standard.

Press Release; Image: GSF