Taiwan-based container line Evergreen complies with all environmental demands and climate targets for shipping, states the carrier in a response to a call by NGOs to dial up climate ambitions.
Major container carriers should only order zero-emissions ships, urged NGOs Pacific Environment and Stand.earth recently in an open letter to five of the world’s leading container lines, including Evergreen.
But in a written reply, Evergreen rejects the call by the NGOs, which are behind the ”Ship it Zero” climate campaign that aims to promote shipping’s green transformation.
To WPO, Evergreen highlights that it’s carrying through its green transformation in accordance with the demands of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
”Evergreen’s operating fleet of vessels is fully in compliant with related IMO regulations […]. We strive to reduce the Carbon Intensity Index (CII) whenever possible. Evergreen is also in compliance with the relevant environmental regulations of each country in which it operates,” writes Evergreen in its reply.
Evergreen’s ambition includes achievement of a ”50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 (compared to 2008 levels) and a 70% reduction by the 2050 goal.”
The NGOs are critical toward the pace of shipping’s green transformation, where the IMO’s climate targets are less ambitious than the Paris Agreement’s aim of climate neutrality by 2050. The NGOs believe that container carriers, currently booking record-high profits, can and should do more.
”Cargo companies like CMA-CGM, A.P. Moller-Maersk, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, Evergreen Marine, and Ocean Network Express have reported record-breaking profits as a result of Covid-related consumer spending and supply chain disruptions over the last two years,” wrote Alex Levinson, executive director at Pacific Environment, and Todd Paglia, executive director at Stand.earth, in the letter to the five major container lines.
”It is your duty to invest these resources in reducing fossil fuel use and catalyzing the shift to zero emissions vessels. Any new investment in fossil fuels by your companies at this time is moral and economic madness.”
Evergreen’s stresses that it supports the UN’s climate efforts.
”Evergreen strongly supports the COP26 goal on environmental protection issues, and will continue in its endeavors on carbon reduction issues together with relevant parties in global shipping industry,” writes the company to WPO.
