Lloyd's Register has provided independent verification of Maersk Line's CO2 emissions in support of the leading operator's efforts to measure and manage its emissions.
The verification, based on an office assessment of the shipping line's processes for data management and an audit of the Maersk's 'Clementine', comes at a time when leading manufacturers are increasingly asking their transport companies to provide proof of their 'green' credentials.
"Maersk Line is to be congratulated for taking the lead in promoting transparency and credibility with regard to carbon emissions," said Madlen King, Head of Climate Change and Sustainability services for Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA).
Maersk Line will now add the CO2 data – verified by Lloyd's Register – as one of eight performance measures in the score cards that the carrier will present to customers.
Maersk Line said that for customers such as the Starbucks Coffee Company, independent verification means greater transparency.
"Being a good environmental steward is important to Starbucks Coffee Company. Our global logistics providers can aid us in lowering the carbon footprint of our supply chain by improving their CO2 emission data," said John Bauer, director of global transportation, Starbucks Coffee Company.
"Quantified measurement and verification is a step in the right direction. Together, we continue to strive to better the world in which we do business."
The next challenge will be to get other shipping lines to participate in the process, making independent verification an industry standard, according to Jacob Sterling, head of climate and environment at Maersk Line.
"This will enable our customers to choose shipping lines based on their environmental performance," Sterling said. "It used to be that 'you cannot manage what you cannot measure'. That's not the case any more. We will work to develop a global industry standard for verification of shipping's CO2 emissions."
Before issuing its first-ever fleet verification, Lloyd's Register checked whether the CO2 emissions calculated by Maersk Line in 2009 corresponded with what auditors could find in the comprehensive vessel reporting system at the line's central offices.
The audit process also included a visit onboard Maersk Clementine to check whether its logs corresponded with the information in the reporting system.
"If the CO2 data held by the shore office is not supported by a credible reporting system, then we would not be able to verify the data and provide an assurance statement," said Peter Catchpole from the environmental product-development team at Lloyd's Register.
"In this instance we also checked onboard records and reporting procedures to give greater confidence in the reported data," he adds.
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