Maersk leaves ICS board to pursue different stance on climate change

Container shipping giant A.P. Moller - Maersk has withdrawn from the board of International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) to pursue a different climate strategy.

PHOTO: Maersk aims to operate 12 methanol-fuelled vessels by 2024. Maersk

Maersk aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, a decade earlier than the ICS's target. Differing views on this timeline have contributed towards Maersk's call to pull out of the ICS board, a representative of the industry body said in an email.

Maersk had been part of the ICS board for a long time, but its executive and board member Henriette Hallberg Thygesen stepped down following an annual revision of Maersk's trade association memberships.

ICS represents around 80% of the world's shipping fleet. It is a coalition of the world’s national shipowner associations, and therefore views it as important to ensure that all its members become a part of its energy transition journey, irrespective of their size and financial backing.

“It has to be a just transition and for that we want to give time to all to understand the new technology related to zero-emission vessels, understand the safety standards related to alternative fuels like hydrogen and ammonia. This will require reskilling at every stage,” the ICS representative said.

To achieve the decarbonisation goal together, it is important to allow time towards 2050, the representative added.

Meanwhile, the ICS maintains that it and other members of the shipping industry are “heading towards the same objective of decarbonisation.”

Maersk will still be a member of the Danish Shipping, which is an ICS member, the representative said.

Earlier this month, a study by the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping showed that only 33 of 94 major shipping companies across the world have committed to achieve net zero emission targets by 2050.