Maritime and cruise majors come up with key recommendations to advance net-zero journey

Maritime and cruise industry players have drafted three key suggestions to advance sustainable and scalable decarbonization solutions, including technology development, alternative fuel opportunities, and policy and regulation.

More than 70 maritime leaders met at a Decarbonization Summit, hosted aboard soon-to-sail Utopia od the Seas by cruise shipping major Royal Caribbean Group in collaboration with the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, where they discussed key suggestions for decarbonization solutions, with a focus on three key areas.

The Summit concluded with the following three key advancement areas to help the industry usher in a new era of collaboration to achieve net zero in the next 25 years:

• Technology: Discussions zeroed in on the creation of an independent network or platform to enable the maritime industry to share important findings regarding pilot and testing programs.
   
• Fuel: Participants called for the formation of an independent third-party-hosted platform 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: Summit participants agreed that a set of principles that outlines critical policy actions needed to support the industry’s shared goal for decarbonization should be developed to inform progress for the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

“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, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group. “This week we have put steps in place to catalyze an open dialogue that will foster the thinking necessary to develop an environment where net zero is attainable and sustainable.” 

Bo Cerup-Simonsen, CEO of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, commented: “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 decarbonization but also holds a lot of valuable insights that can benefit of the rest of the maritime industry.

“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 decarbonized maritime industry.”

Royal Caribbean Group and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping formalized their collaboration by signing a partnership agreement in May 2022. The cruise line thus became a corporate strategic partner to the center, committing to a long-term strategic collaboration and contribution to the development of zero-carbon technologies and solutions for the maritime industry.

The development of alternative fuels and alternative power solutions is one of the pillars of Royal Caribbean Group’s Destination Net Zero, a comprehensive decarbonization strategy that includes pledging to establish science-based targets (SBT) and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.