Zero Carbon Center rolls out 1st Book & Claim project

The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Rocky Mountain Institute, Danish Shipping, and Maersk Oil Trading have initiated a project designing a maritime-specific Book & Claim project.

Book & Claim is a chain of custody model. These models track product characteristics through a supply chain from their source to the end consumer. 

“People use chain of custody models every day. When you buy organic milk from a grocery store you trust the label. You know it’s organic because there is a chain of custody that can trace the milk from your shopping cart to a certified organic farm. Chain of custody models give credibility that what you are buying is what they are selling,” the center noted.

Specifically, Book & Claim is the same concept with a twist. Instead of buying a product (like milk) and its characteristics (its organic nature) at the same time, Book & Claim decouples the characteristic from the physical product. It would allow you to buy the organic nature of milk without buying the physical milk itself.

The center and its partners received funding for the project this July. With support from the Danish Maritime Fund, the project will analyze how a Book & Claim system can be made and how it can be adapted to the Danish-operated fleet.

Shipping companies want to decarbonize but can’t always find a willingness to pay for green shipping within their customer base. At the same time, customers who want to reduce their shipping emissions might not have have physical access to green ships.

Book & Claim can connect shipping companies offering green shipping with customers who want to pay for it. By decoupling emissions from transport service, it can create a market where these two parties meet. Customers can pay for low emissions and funnel their capital back to green shipping companies, regardless of their physical connection, according to the center.