Towage company Svitzer has underlined its commitment to climate change, saying that without action in the near term, the impact of humans on the planet will lead to irreversible shifts to ecosystems, cities, and way of life.
As a result the company has published a white paper outlining how it, as the world’s largest towage provider, recognises its role in influencing industry standards.
Svitzer CEO Kasper Nilaus said: “Towage plays a small yet significant role in the global supply chain. We link the first and last mile of shipping to the remainder of the chain but, paradoxically, are not always bound by shipping regulations. This is particularly true on the environment, where we find ourselves having to create our own momentum for sustainability change. We recently unveiled Svitzer’s new decarbonisation strategy to become fully carbon neutral by 2040. This is an ambitious goal, far outstripping the current IMO target of a 50% reduction in emissions by 2050. We are dedicated to investing time and capital to embed sustainability throughout our business.”
Work has already begun to progress towards the first phase of the strategy, which is to reduce the CO2 intensity of the entire Svitzer fleet by 50% by 2030. The paper outlines how Svitzer intends to reach those goals shows some of the tangible progress already made.
Decarbonising towage – let alone all of shipping – will require new partnerships so Svitzer is actively looking for new partners to co-create the road to success and draw on learnings from other industries that are experiencing the same transition.
Nilaus added: “Announcing the 2040-goal and taking actions every day that take us closer to achieving the target is very satisfying on a professional level. I am excited to lead all of the team here at Svitzer as we evolve our business around environmental considerations whilst also continuing to deliver the safe and high standard of service that we are known for. I will state it again: we all have to do our part.”
