Lending our voice to climate advocacy
The pressure for environmental action and regulation creates the need for even greater collaboration between industry players— not only amongst ship owners and operators but also charterers, banks, and governments. We are active participants in multiple associations working on industry matters, including climate change initiatives.
In 2023, BW Group and its affiliates were a member of or partner with the following associations and organisations:
The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation
The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) was established as a non-profit organisation on 1 August 2021. Founded by six industry partners namely BHP, BW Group, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Foundation Det Norske Veritas, Ocean Network Express and Seatrium (formerly Sembcorp Marine), GCMD also receives funding from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) for qualifying research and development programmes and projects.
Located in Singapore, GCMD is a non-profit organisation with a mission to support the decarbonisation of the maritime industry to meet or exceed the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) goals for 2030 and 2050. Chaired by BW Group Chairman, Andreas Sohmen-Pao, the centre focuses on addressing some of the gaps faced by the maritime industry through pilots and trials.
GCMD aims to lower the barriers for broad market adoption of low- / zero-carbon solutions by:
• Shaping standards:
Share the learnings from projects actively at relevant national and international technical committee meetings.
• Deploying solutions:
Take a transparent, deliberate, open, and practical approach to exercising technical and domain expertise to curate and demonstrate viable decarbonisation solutions.
• Financing projects:
Co-fund pilots and trials, and maintain open dialogue with relevant government agencies to accelerate the framing of regulatory sandboxes.
• Fostering collaboration:
Provide neutral ground for stakeholders across the value chain to convene, ensuring a diversity of inputs to operationalise pilots.
GCMD recognises the need to look at multiple solutions for international shipping to achieve near and long term decarbonisation ambitions. To help address the key challenges, GCMD has launched four initiatives since its inception. This includes:
• Enabling ammonia as a marine fuel:
GCMD completed a safety study on piloting ammonia bunkering in April 2023, paving the way for developing standards and training programs for safe ammonia transfer during breakbulk and bunkering operations. Building on this study, GCMD is preparing to pilot the physical transfer of ammonia within port waters to build confidence within port ecosystems.
• Developing an assurance framework for drop-in green fuels:
GCMD has completed 3 supply chain trials with biofuel blends (B24 and B30). The data gathered will form the basis for an assurance framework, providing shipowners with confidence in biofuels’ GHG abatement potential and cost premium justification. Additionally, GCMD is exploring crude algae oil as a promising third-generation biofuel option.
• Unlocking the carbon value chain:
GCMD has completed the conceptual design and front-end engineering study for an onboard carbon capture system (OCCS) on an MR tanker, and published a concept study to offload onboard captured CO2. Next, GCMD is looking to evaluate the lifecycle of OCCS, from onboard capture to its offloading, utilisation, and / or sequestration pathways.
• Scaling adoption of energy efficiency technologies (EETs):
GCMD is piloting Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS) models, utilising shared-risk contractual agreements to stimulate investment in EETs for vessels.
For more information, visit https://www.gcformd.org ↗
Other key industry collaborations and initiatives BW is involved in
Diversity Study Group
DSG is dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace across the global shipping and maritime sectors.
Getting to Zero Coalition
Several BW affiliates have joined the Getting to Zero Coalition, an alliance of more than 200 companies within the maritime, energy, infrastructure, and finance industry, including key governments and Inter-Governmental Organisations support. The Coalition is committed to getting commercially viable zero-emission deep-sea vessels into operation by 2030.
All Aboard Alliance
The All Aboard Alliance was founded in 2020 via a collaborative drive from top industry leaders, towards increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion across the maritime sector. The Diversity Study Group is one of the Founding Knowledge Partners.
In 2023, the All Aboard Alliance announced the new Diversity@Sea Pilot project at the Global Maritime Forum Annual Summit. As part of the All Aboard Alliance, Hafnia is committed to making sea life inclusive and attractive to all seafarers. Hafnia participated with the allocation of Hafnia Pride into the pilot project, one of four vessels in Hafnia’s Maritime Culture Lab crewed with at least 50% female seafarers.
Hafnia CEO Mikael Skov, Co-Chair of the All Aboard Alliance, said: “The launch of the Diversity@Sea pilot is a true testament to the proactive stance taken by the All Aboard Alliance and several member companies in tackling these issues head-on.”
CLIMMS
A joint industry project to identify pathways for transforming the international shipping sector towards the IMO 2050 goal of 50% reduction in GHG emissions and keeping global temperature rises below 2 °C.
Maritime Anti-Corruption Network
BW is a member of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN), a global business network working towards the vision of a maritime industry free of corruption. MACN and its members promote good corporate practices in the maritime industry for tackling bribes, facilitation payments and other forms of corruption.
BW continues to uphold high ethical standards, following strict anti-bribery policies. In 2023, MACN hosted an information session for BW affiliates in Singapore and Copenhagen. The session highlighted the importance of seafarer safety, fostered meaningful discussions and the integral links between efficiency and ethics.