Reports from the Reuters news agency say that A.P. Moller-Maersk has withdrawn its board member from the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), for reasons thought to be differences in approach to climate change.
Maersk has been part of ICS’s board for about 10 years, but Maersk executive and board member Henriette Hallberg Thygesen has stepped down after an annual revision of trade association memberships.
A statement from Mearsk said: “We review our membership status once a year to ensure that the trade associations in which we are members lobby in alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement as well as other key issues. Our choice to step down from the ICS Board should also be seen in this context.”
Although Maersk did not specify the exact cause of the disagreement, it is believed that the company is dissatisfied with the slow progress on decarbonisation being made at IMO, and that ICS appears to be backing the IMO decisions.
Maersk’s own ambitions are well ahead of the IMO targets, with the company aiming for carbon-neutral vessels by 2030 in order to meet its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
