BSR's Clean Cargo Working Group and Clean Shipping Index agree to explore potential for merger
BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) and the Clean Shipping Index (CSI), the two leading environmental reporting initiatives for ships and ship operators have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate for cleaner, more efficient shipping.
Through this agreement, the groups will explore a merger to create one global initiative that provides a uniform set of environmental reporting and assessment tools for cargo owners to use during procurement of shipping services. In the short term, CCWG and CSI will align more of the environmental parameters each organization currently uses.
Angie Farrag-Thibault, Project Director of CCWG and Associate Director of BSR’s Transportation and Logistics practice, said: “Alignment behind one initiative is of great importance to the industry and our members, and this will help us more quickly reach our common goal of improving the environmental performance of the transport and logistics supply chain.”
In the past few years, there has been a proliferation of market-oriented environmental initiatives for the maritime industry. While this has been a positive development for sustainability, the different standards have bred confusion for shippers and carriers.
Directors of CCWG and CSI believe that aligning their work could save costs, allow data to be gathered more efficiently, and help engage more companies to collaborate on sustainability through a single network.
Merijn Hougee, CSI Director for Corporate Social Responsibility, said: “Having a one-stop-shop for evaluating the environmental performance of shipping would make our work more efficient.
“Creating a global initiative by blending the approach of the two most widely recognized programs is an opportunity that we are proud to be cultivating.”
The Clean Shipping Index is a benchmarking tool to evaluate the environmental performance of all types of cargo ships and carriers and is used during procurement of sea transport by a network of large cargo owners.
Clean Cargo Working Group is a global carrier-shipper initiative dedicated to improving the environmental performance of marine container transport. A full list of members is available at www.bsr.org/cleancargo.
