Following a three-day event on board Royal Caribbean Group’s (RCL) latest cruise ship, ‘Utopia of the Seas’, three key recommendations to advance sustainable and scalable de-carbonisation solutions were agreed.
More than 70 maritime leaders met at a De-carbonisation Summit hosted by RCL in collaboration with the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping.
Representatives from technology developers, fuel providers, shipbuilders, ship operators and ports, focused on three key areas – technology development, alternative fuel opportunities and policy and regulation.
“Achieving net zero is not something any one company can do alone – it requires collective problem solving, creative thinking, and a willingness to have tough conversations,” said Jason Liberty, RCL President and CEO.
“This week we have put steps in place to catalyse an open dialogue that will foster the thinking necessary to develop an environment where net zero is attainable and sustainable.”
The Summit concluded by announcing three key advancement areas to help the industry usher in a new era of collaboration to achieve net zero in the next 25 years.
They are:
- Technology: Discussions focused on the creation of an independent network or platform to enable the maritime industry to share important findings regarding pilot and testing programmes.
- Fuel: The formation of an independent third party-hosted platform was called for to aggregate low carbon fuel demand by location. The aggregator would provide insights that would enable the industry to better prepare for the supply of alternative fuels.
- Policy: Participants agreed that a set of principles that outlines critical policy actions needed to support the industry’s shared goal for de-carbonisation should be developed to inform progress for the IMO.
“The shipping industry is in a critically important phase where the pathway to a sustainable future is now being shaped by concrete plans and actions. The cruise industry faces its own needs and opportunities on the road to de-carbonisation but also holds a lot of valuable insights that can benefit of the rest of the maritime industry,” said Bo Cerup-Simonsen, CEO, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping.
“With this event Royal Caribbean Group demonstrates exemplary first mover leadership by taking responsibility beyond their own agenda, fostering important in-depth discussions, collaboration, knowledge sharing and action across the ecosystem to further strengthen the acceleration towards a de-carbonised maritime industry,” he said.
