Our special column asked from the winners of the first GREEN4SEA – EUROPORT Awards, which were announced in early November on the sidelines of EUROPORT, to assess the environmental status of the shipping industry and suggest ways to move forward and change the path toward a more sustainable future.
If you could change one thing that would have an either profound or immediate impact on environmental performance across the industry, what this one thing would it be and why?
Teus van Beek, General Manager Idea and Innovation management, Wärtsilä
My hope is that at some point, we will have fuels which their price would be in accordance with the emission level they generate; hence, if you would need to pay more for the dirty fuel, you would choose the clean fuel. Unfortunately, this is not applied in our industry today.
Sofie Hebeltoft – Director, Head of CSR, DFDS
Modern nuclear power is something that could be really interesting in terms of CO2 emissions. The problem is that customers and societies are not ready to embrace it, because who could imagine going on a passenger ship which a nuclear reactor onboard? However, if you looked at the future and tried to think big, it could be something that could have big influence on CO2 emissions.
Stein Kjølberg, Global Concept Director – Hull Performance Solutions, Jotun
The financial incentives need to change immediately, to start investments in more green initiatives.
Sotiris Raptis – Senior Policy Advisor for Environment and Safety, EcoPorts Coordinator
Transparency. Pressure is transferred to the different stakeholders of the supply chain. If you look at the incentive schemes provided by ports, the so called green discounts – it is not about changing the investment decisions of the ship owners, it is about rewarding the front runners and giving better reputation to front runners. More and more consumers are ready to pay an environmental premium or a carbon premium. In the end, it is all about transparency and commercial decision. It also brings different stakeholders closer to work together.
Above views were presented during a panel discussion at the award ceremony of first GREEN4SEA – EUROPORT Awards, 6 November, Rotterdam.
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
