The Responsible Ship Recycling Standards initiative, backed by several large banks, updates standards and expands to include offshore structures such as drilling rigs. More banks have also joined, reports FinansWatch Norway.
The Responsible Ship Recycling Standards (RSRS) initiative has now expanded to cover offshore structures such as drilling rigs and oil platforms.
Launched in 2017 by big banks like ABN Amro, ING Bank and NIBC, with support from DNB, SEB and Export Credit Norway, the initiative sets guidelines for responsible shipbreaking.
RSRS is meant to pressure banks’ shipping customers to scrap their vessels in a more responsible manner than today, when ships are often scrapped under poor conditions in South Asia.
As of March this year, RSRS adopted new standards extending the guidelines to decommissioning mobile offshore structures such as rigs and oil platforms.
“This is an important initiative with Dutch and Scandinavian banks for ensuring a more responsible, greener and sustainable recycling of ships,” says Tom Erik Vågen, business manager at Danske Bank, to WPO’s Norwegian sister media, FinansWatch.
“We meet with them frequently to address which demands we can and should place on shipping companies,” he adds.
Since its 2017 launch, RSRS has grown to entail 12 banks in total, with Sparebanken Vest and SpareBank 1 SR-Bank now also onboard. The goal is to get more banks to join the initiative in the coming years.
“An important objective for this year is to recruit banks from other geographic areas to ensure global impact,” Vågen tells FinansWatch.
