Hapag-Lloyd has won Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA)’s first tender to deliver greenhouse gas emissions reduction over 90% as compared to fossil fuel service to ZEMBA members starting in 2025.
Through this deal, more than a dozen ZEMBA members including founding members Amazon, Patagonia, and Tchibo alongside Bauhaus, Brooks Running, DB Journey, Green Worldwide Shipping, lululemon, Meta, New Balance, Nike, REI Co-op, and Sport-Thieme, have collectively committed to purchase the environmental attributes associated with over 1 billion twenty-foot shipping container-miles of zero-emission shipping on a route from Singapore to Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2025-2026.
To reach our goal of net-zero ship operations by 2045, we need partners like ZEMBA to support us on our decarbonization journey and push the boundaries of what’s possible. By offering our service, we aim to reduce greenhouse gas emission significantly and contribute to a greener future for global shipping.
… commented Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd was selected as the winner of ZEMBA’s inaugural tender. At the conclusion of contracting, ZEMBA expects members to collectively avoid at least 82,000 metric tonnes of CO2e over two years through Hapag-Lloyd’s independently certified and exclusively waste-based biomethane service.
Climate-leading customers of the maritime shipping sector are stepping up in support of zero-emission shipping and the supply chain is responding. As we embark on this partnership, we commend Hapag-Lloyd’s transparency, collaborative spirit, and willingness to innovate with ZEMBA on this inaugural tender
… said Ingrid Irigoyen, President and CEO of ZEMBA
Given the expected potential for first deployment of e-fuels on the water in 2027, this deal was adjusted from three years to two years – 2025-2026 – to allow members the opportunity through ZEMBA’s second tender to focus on supporting e-fuels and technologies of nonbiological origin.
To inform design of ZEMBA’s next tender and ensure it unlocks investment in the next generation of fuels and technologies, ZEMBA will be seeking information in the coming months from actors across the maritime value chain working to develop e-fuel infrastructure, bunkering, ship design, and other details.
Important next moves include:
- ZEMBA and Hapag-Lloyd will use a book and claim system to verify and allocate environmental attributes of Hapag-Lloyd’s waste-based biomethane shipping service.
- ZEMBA members and Hapag-Lloyd collaborate with Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping and RMI to develop a nonprofit book and claim system, ensuring companies can invest in zero-emission transition without disrupting global logistics.
- ZEMBA’s tender results will inform global maritime decarbonization policy, supported by the Aspen Institute. Lessons learned will aid International Maritime Organization in developing credible, transparent guidelines.
ZEMBA’s tender was designed and executed with several key partners. They include Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub, a non-profit research and action initiative of Lloyd’s Register Group and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, dedicated to accelerating the safe and sustainable decarbonisation of the maritime industry.
Also providing support was Neoteric Energy and Climate LLC, a specialized climate and energy advisory firm with experience running tenders in hard-to-abate sectors, including for sustainable aviation fuel through the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance. The law firm of Pillsbury has acted as legal counsel.
The 30 current members of ZEMBA encourage additional climate-leading companies to join us in continuing to send an ever-stronger demand signal for zero-emission fuels and technologies over time through a series of subsequent collective tenders.
The second tender is anticipated to launch later in 2024.
