Maersk Launches New Sustainability Goal to Fast Track to Low-Carbon Steel, Hoping to Achieve a 100% Net-Zero Steel by 2050

In April, Maersk announced its plans to fast track to low-carbon steel, in hopes to achieve a 100 percent net-zero steel by 2050.

Maersk will become a part of SteelZero, a group that requires its members to “procure, specify or stock 100 percent net zero steel by 2050,” Supply Chain Dive reported. Additionally, Maersk has plans to achieve their goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Making the Transition to Net-Zero Steel

The steel industry is one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide and has contributed to around 7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, Container News states. With global ship recycling volumes expected to nearly double in 2028 and then quadruple in 2033, it is important to find a low-carbon process for primary steelmaking.

For Maersk, a significant number of the 700+ vessels it operates are expected to be recycled in the next decade. A large proportion of these will be the post-panamax size ships (over 4,000 twenty-foot equivalent units), with steel making up approximately 90 percent of those ships’ weight, Offshore Energy reports (link: ).

“We have both strong decarbonization ambitions and ships’ coming to end-of-life, which offers a great opportunity to reduce our Scope 3 emissions by driving circularity in the steel industry,” Palle Laursen, Senior VP & Chief Technical Officer at A.P. Moller – Maersk.

Scope 3 emissions are the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organization, but that the organization indirectly impacts in its value chain – as stated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Targets for Reducing Emissions

While it won’t be easy and may have some challenges, Maersk has a timeline to deliver net zero by 2040:

• 2022: Decarbonization vision and accelerated commitments
• 2023: World’s first liner in operation on green methanol
• 2024: Twelve 16 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) vessels capable of operating on green methanol
• 2030: Aligned with a science based targets initiative 1.5 degree Celsius pathway and be an industry leading green customer offerings across the supply chain
• 2040: Net zero emissions across the business and 100% green solutions to customers

Furthermore, Maersk plans to include a 50 percent reduction in emissions per transported container in the Maersk Ocean Fleet and a 70 percent reduction in absolute emissions from fully controlled terminals. And, depending on growth in the ocean business, this could lead to absolute emissions reductions between 35 percent and 50 percent from a 2020 baseline, Maersk reports.

Going Forward

Environmental sustainability goals have been wildly talked about so far this year, with more and more companies learning and implementing more environmentally sustainable goals in their companies. With these environmental goals do take time, it will be interesting to see in the future what these goals lead to and

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