India CSR News Network
MUMBAI: Climate Change can be termed as one of the biggest market failures of our time. And if not addressed immediately, we will see a considerable negative impact on the global economy undermining development opportunities for people as well as for businesses worldwide. “At the Maersk Group, we strive to address environmental challenges in such a way that whatever we do creates value for society and the Maersk Group”, said Julian Bevis, Maersk Group representative for South Asia.
The Maersk Group acknowledges the need to regulate the environmental impact of shipping and emphasizes that any future regulation needs to be global, flag neutral and reward early movers. “Conscious of the challenges ahead, we are leading the way and showing that substantial reductions are both possible and can be part of a commercially viable strategy. We are raising the bar on energy efficiency and have set an ambitious target of 60% reduction per container by 2020 (baseline 2007).This is an integral part of our cost leadership strategy and we have already reduced emissions per container by 42% since 2007 (by end 2015)”, said Franck Dedenis, Maersk Line Managing Director in India.
In India over recent months, the Maersk Group has taken various initiatives at group as well as business unit level to address the environmental challenges. The Maersk Group initiated the development of Alang in Gujarat as responsible ship recycling hub in India. Until recently, this was only feasible in a limited number of yards in China and Turkey.
This initiative will not only help conserve environment but will also improve Alang’s social economic condition and benefit the global shipping industry. In early 2016, the Maersk Group also pledged support at the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration. As part of this declaration, Maersk Line on behalf of the group in India will publish a zero tolerance policy on its website and will also roll out awareness and compliance training programs for its employees in India.
Maersk Line will also collaborate with other local ecosystem partners to develop and implement mechanisms that enable the transport sector to receive improved information on transportation of suspected illegal wildlife and related products.
There were various other initiatives taken by business units at the Maersk Group in India. “APM Terminals Inland Services, South Asia collaborated with Dr Sharad Kale, Padma Shri, Scientist and Head – Nuclear, Agriculture and Biotechnology Division at BARC, Mumbai to introduce In-situ Biodegradation, a safer, faster, more efficient way of treating perishable cargo.
This initiative has the potential to make a remarkable difference to the environment and we are glad to be able to make a positive difference”, said Ajit Venkataraman, Managing Director, APM Terminals India Pvt. Ltd. Through this in-situ biodegradation exercise, APM Terminals Inland Services South Asia successfully prevented approximately 54 Metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from a particular consignment of potatoes.
APM Terminals Mumbai, the busiest container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port deployed roof top solar power panels. Ravi Gaitonde, COO, APM Terminals Mumbai said, “This project to capture and store energy from the sun for use as electrical power for terminal operations will be undertaken in three phases and by the end of phase 3 panels would have covered a wider surface area, resulting in solar generation of approximately 15% of the terminal’s total annual power requirement, approximately five million kWh (kilowatt hour) units per year”.
APM Terminals Pipavav is protecting 85 acres of mangroves in port premise. 500 hectares of mangroves have been planted in Surat and Bharuch and over 100 hectares of mangrove plantation is in progress currently. In addition to this, APMT Pipavav replaced over 2782 conventional fixtures of street lights and high mast with LED fixtures. This initiative has resulted into over 47% energy saving in street light and 60% energy saving in high mast. We all know that the ambient air in the coal yard can be impure, hence the terminal developed one of the first environment friendly coal yards in India. A scientifically designed water curtain was introduced in the coal yard that settles the dust thereby protecting the ambient air which has innumerable health benefits for the community in and around the area. To ensure continuous benefits, the port monitors the ambient air in the area on a regular basis.
Global Service Center is the largest employer amongst all the Maersk Group companies in India. With over 8000 people, and 2 sites in India, the idea was to implement an Energy Management Program across all centres in India. It all started with the Airoli facility whose EPI was 1 star when the program started. Today it is a 4-5 star facility and this was achieved by improving efficiency and reducing wastage. Owing to success at one site, the Energy Management Program was implemented at other sites within the company with similar results.
“Although we at the Maersk Group have taken many such initiatives in past, we believe that the issue of climate change cannot be isolated from the on-going need for economic development. Hence the challenge is to increase the trade and economic opportunities while reducing carbon footprints. And this can only be achieved if right intent, awareness and innovative practices become part of company’s core philosophy”, Julian Bevis, Maersk Group representative for South Asia.
