IKEA, Amazon, Unilever Among Companies Committing to Zero-Carbon Shipping

By Dominic Chopping

STOCKHOLM--Companies including IKEA, Amazon.com Inc., Unilever PLC and Inditex SA on Tuesday jointly committed to switching all of their ocean freight to vessels powered by zero-carbon fuels by 2040.

Through a new cargo owner-led network, Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels, the companies have agreed to target zero-carbon shipping and rapidly accelerate decarbonization efforts.

Amazon, Brooks Running, Frog Bikes, IKEA, Inditex, Michelin, Patagonia, Tchibo Holding AG and Unilever are the first signatories to the 2040 ambition statement facilitated by the network.

"IKEA, together with the other signatories, are ready to do our part and purchase only zero-emissions ocean transport services by 2040, call on policymakers around the world to take ambitious actions to advance the decarbonizing of the ocean industry and set more ambitious goals," IKEA said in a statement.

The formation of the Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels initiative was facilitated by nonprofit organization Aspen Institute.

The shipping industry has agreed to boost the global fleet's energy efficiency by at least 40% over the next decade and cut overall greenhouse-gas emissions from ship exhaust in half by 2050 compared with 2008 levels.

The deadlines set in 2018 by the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations' marine regulator, will likely become more stringent in 2023, when the body meets to review its strategy.

Shipping-services provider Clarkson Research Services Ltd. has estimated that it may cost the industry more than $3 trillion for ships to switch to new forms of power.

--Costas Paris contributed to this article

Write to Dominic Chopping at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2021 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)

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