Carnival Joins Zero-Emission Coalition

AIDAnova during sea trials. Photo: Meyer Werft

The world’s largest cruise company, Carnival Corporation is joining a coalition of companies committed to accelerating the decarbonization of the international shipping industry.

The Getting to Zero Coalition is an alliance of over 80 companies and organizations from across the maritime, energy, infrastructure and finance sectors who have committed to the development of zero-emission vessels and fuel solutions to help meet the maritime industry’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With the move, Carnival becomes the first cruise company to join the alliance.

Getting to Zero Coalition’s goals are in-line with the IMO’s initial strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by at least 50 percent by 2050 as compared to 2008 emissions. To meet its goals, the alliance is seeking to develop a technically feasible and commercially viable zero-emission deep sea vessel (ZEVs) entering service as early as 2030, as well as scalable infrastructure for zero-carbon energy, including production, distribution, storage and bunkering.

Carnival Corporation had set a goal to reduce its CO2 from its operations by 25 percent by 2020 relative to a 2005 baseline, which it hit ahead of schedule 2017. As part of its strategic plan for carbon footprint reduction, Carnival is also leading cruise industry in the use of LNG fuel, with a total of eleven next-generation cruise ships joining the fleet through 2025. Carnival Corporation launched the world’s first cruise ship powered by LNG, AIDAnova, in late 2018, followed by the LNG-powered Costa Smeralda earlier this month.

As of July 2019, Carnival had installed exhaust gas cleaning systems, or “scrubbers”, on more than 70% of its fleet. In addition, over 40 percent of the company’s fleet has “cold ironing” capabilities, enabling ships to use shoreside electric power where available while in port.

“We look forward to working with fellow coalition partners in the maritime, energy and other related industries, as well as academics, think tanks and policymakers, to develop a roadmap that identifies the technologies, investments and actions we must pursue to begin introducing zero emission vessels into the global shipping and passenger fleet,” said Tom Strang, senior vice president of maritime affairs for Carnival Corporation.

“Across our nine brands, we host more than 12 million guests every year and visit over 700 ports of call around the world. The health and vitality of our oceans and seas, along with the hundreds of communities we visit across the globe, are absolutely essential to our business. We have a deep commitment to safety, environmental responsibility and consistently exceeding guest expectations, and being an active part of the Getting to Zero Coalition is another important step for the environment,” Strang added.

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