Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) launched

A group of multinational, consumer-facing organisations including Amazon, Ikea, Michelin and Unilever have committed to using only zero-emission ships to transport their cargo by 2040. As a group and as individuals, coZEV members intend to set ambitious interim goals, and lobby policymakers to bring about the necessary regulatory changes. Initiatives under development include:

– Cargo owner-support for the first zero-carbon maritime shipping corridors

– New mechanisms for bringing together collective freight demand and achieve economies of scale for zero-carbon shipping

– Harnessing cargo owner voice to support public policies that will accelerate and lower the cost of the decarbonization transition

– Promoting new and improved tools for tracking shipping emissions data and fostering transparency

Initiatives, coZEV website

“The Missing Demand Signal”

Despite growing efforts across the shipping value chain, the vitally important demand side has — until now — been mostly silent on the need for maritime decarbonization. Yet multinational cargo owners are the freight customers whose business underpins the work of carriers, freight forwarders, shipping fuel suppliers, and port operators.

Many leading cargo owners have ambitious corporate climate commitments. They are motivated to invest in real decarbonization of their supply chains and reduce the need to purchase out-of-sector offsets to meet their net zero goals (particularly where those emissions can actually become avoidable). By working together to stimulate a new marketplace for zero-carbon shipping, companies have a unique opportunity to become first movers, shape this new market, and facilitate rapid decarbonization of transoceanic container shipping in a way that will address their interests.

What is Shipping Decarbonization and Why Does it Matter?, coZEV website