Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman and Group CEO of DP World, announced plans to invest up to $500 million to reduce CO2 emissions from its activities by roughly 700,000 tonnes over the next five years.
The announcement came as Bin Sulayem delivered a video speech to participants at the UN Climate Conference (COP 27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. He also demonstrated DP World’s dedication to sustainability by accepting the Green Shipping Challenge (GSC).
The challenge, launched earlier this year by US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry and Norwegian Prime MinisterJonas Gahr Støre, encourages countries, ports, companies, and other actors in the shipping value chain to make concrete announcements to further ocean-based climate actions.
“Global trade has been an enormous force for good, keeping our world connected and lifting millions out of poverty over the last few decades. But this growth is not without consequences – from the scale of energy required to make, move and use goods to the resource intensity of logistics and the challenges economic growth can bring. As a leading enabler of global trade, we have the tools, ingenuity and drive to lead a step change in logistics,” Bin Sulayem said.
Carbon emissions are expected to be reduced by roughly 700,000 tonnes, representing a 20% reduction from 2021 levels. DP World intends to convert its worldwide fleet of assets from diesel to electric, invest in renewable energy, and investigate other fuels.
“Our World, Our Future is our sustainability strategy, designed to deliver responsible operations. We have already committed to becoming a carbon-neutral enterprise by 2040 and a net zero-carbon enterprise by 2050. We will work with our global partners to develop an action plan to advance the goals of the GSC and encourage industry players to devise plans to address climate change,” added Bin Sulayem.
“We’re doing this through three main pillars of activity; the electrification of our ports and terminals equipment, investment into renewable energy and through research and development projects that will look into alternative fuels, vessels and vehicles across our portfolio. Our ports and terminals business is making steady progress by following the strategy of maximising efficiency, equipment electrification, supply of renewable electricity, low carbon fuels and carbon compensation,” he said.
In January, DP World announced a strategic alliance with the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to conducting rigorous research and development to identify practical strategies to decarbonise the global marine commerce business.
“Decarbonising the maritime industry requires the complete rewiring of the system, imagining new supply chains and structures. It is a huge undertaking, but one we are ready to venture into. We bring extensive expertise in integrated logistics and infrastructure and a deep understanding of the complexity faced by the industry, having grown from a local port operator in Jebel Ali to an end-to-end supply chain solutions provider, moving around 10% of global cargo”, he added.
One of the most significant problems comes from the maritime services and logistics sectors, which account for a considerable amount of DP World’s total carbon footprint via their fleets of vessels and trucks. Addressing this will be critical to building solutions as the organisation strives for net zero.
The global decarbonisation approach intends to cut absolute emissions as much as feasible initially, then focus on replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy resources, and lastly, acquire offsets for the difficult-to-abate remaining emissions for the 2040 carbon-neutral objective. In addition to technology-driven solutions such as vehicle and fuel replacement, DP World is collaborating with local communities where it works to build carbon offset schemes and carbon sinks such as mangrove trees.