Decarbonizing port logistics – the time is now!

Fighting climate change has become an imperative for all of us as individuals and as companies, and in APM Terminals we are fully committed to address this challenge and be part of the solution.

?Connecting land and sea, our terminals act as a local heartbeat to the societies and customers we serve. However, in doing so for the past 20 years, we have also been part of the “challenge”. Last year alone APM Terminals emitted the same amount of CO2 as an average European city with a population of around 120,000.

?The good news is that we have solutions available to help us reduce our emissions, and we are determined to intensify our efforts towards achieving carbon neutrality in our operations.

?Also, we are not alone on this journey. Countries and port authorities have started to set carbon neutrality goals. This is very encouraging, and we are enthusiastic to see this common platform developing rapidly, where partners and stakeholders across the whole port logistics industry welcome the need to act faster and more decisively.

?As part of A.P. Moller – Maersk, we are supporting the pledge to have net-zero CO2 emissions from own operations, with our current target year being 2050.This is amongst the most ambitious decarbonization targets in the industry.

?In APM Terminals we have detailed plans to achieve this in our own business. Looking at our carbon footprint, we want to address both fuel-based emissions, as well as those from the generation of purchased electricity, and we will also work with customers, suppliers and partners to involve them in this,?because we believe this issue needs to be tackled holistically.

?We have developed a decarbonization roadmap, with a range of focus areas. With energy consumption optimization we will continuously reduce fuel and electricity consumption across the entire terminal ecosystem. We will improve our electricity sourcing and change the type of electricity we procure, utilizing renewable energy solutions whenever possible. We will also focus on alternative fuels and reduce our direct emission through transition towards emission free fuels.

?Over the years we have invested in and developed solutions to minimize our carbon footprint, which already now will allow us to reduce our CO2 emissions by 70% once fully implemented. However, eliminating the remaining emissions will require developing green energy alternatives in locations where such options are currently not available. We see our role as a trusted infrastructure partner rather than just moving boxes, and we will work with our local and national governmental partners to enable the development of necessary infrastructure that will benefit a wide spectrum of players who opt for green energy and/or fuel alternatives. This will not only drive the local climate agenda, but also create jobs and new business opportunities. In APM Terminals we will also initiate a dialogue with main energy providers to source for alternative fuels in locations where that is currently not possible as well as engage with our main equipment producers to develop equipment compatible with the requirements for alternative fuel.

?We recently engaged with Siemens in a collaboration at our terminal in Mumbai, India to identify and later implement possible energy optimization measures. Based on initial learnings, we estimate emission reduction of ~40% on Scope 1 emissions and 16%-20% on Scope 2 emissions at APM Terminals Mumbai. We are currently working on rolling the Siemens initiative out to our wider portfolio of terminals globally, with the aim of achieving similar emission reduction in other locations. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the decarbonization focus in our own organization, we now have a dedicated Head of Decarbonization for APM Terminals to coordinate and strategize all our decarbonization efforts. So we are moving fast!

?Partnering and collaborating across the industry will be key to solving this challenge. We need to get #every heart and brain in the game! Doing this together with our various partners, our customers and our own extraordinary people, we aim to fight and overcome this climate crisis while creating opportunities for green and inclusive growth that not only supports #13 of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (Climate), but more so a broader spectrum of the goals needed to safeguard the future of planet.