The Carbon Positive Program for Ships

by Peter Diehm on 2011-12-04 04:43:35

Please read the attached press release by Carbon Positive.

Carbon Positive is a Greek organization consulting on sustainable shipping and carbon emissions.

As stated on their website the Carbon Positive Programme for Ships (CPPS) is a sustainability programme that spans three phases: Measure, Reduce, and Offset carbon emissions. CPPS enables member vessels to manage their carbon emissions and stay ahead of regulation, improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions whilst proactively addressing corporate social responsibility issues.
This program should enable shippers and their customers to better account and keep track of their carbon footprint when shipping goods around the world. Anybody who ever tried to calculate the carbon footprint of a forty foot container shipment knows that the results currently are just best estimates.

If with the help of Carbon Positive vessel operators can break down the measured data and provide the carbon footprint of the shipment to their customers a good progress in more accurate reporting is getting accomplished. At the same time the vessel operators can also show to their customers what they are doing to reduce emissions and stand out versus their competition.

In my personal opinion only the last step of the program doing carbon offsetting has to be watched carefully. Providing verified offset projects which are considered “additional” and would have not been done anyway is a big challenge. A world-wide respected carbon offset certification standard is the Swiss based Gold Standard. Learn more about them on their website.