With the COP28 Agreement, is this a sign of “The Beginning of the End” of the Fossil Fuel Era?

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) concluded with global solidarity where representatives from almost 200 parties came together in Dubai. Though it was agreed that the transition will take a significant timeframe, it was mentioned, that now, all governments and businesses need to turn this decision into real-economy outcomes, without delay. They did acknowledge the science that indicates global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut by 43% by 2030, compared to the 2019 levels to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C.

Climate change has always been an important topic for Samskip and its sustainability strategy. Samskip’s ambition is to achieve a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to the 2020 baseline and to attain net-zero operations by 2040.

In 2023, we continued our efforts by making significant progress in our approach to climate change. In April, we joined the Smart Freight Centre and its GLEC (Global Logistics Emission Council) and Clean Cargo working groups. In the second half of 2023, we began with the development of a new carbon footprint calculator aligned with international standards such as the GHG Protocol, GLEC, and the ISO 14083 standard. In 2022, we achieved a 10.4% reduction in CO2 compared to 2020, thanks to our commitment to alternative fuels, our multimodality approach to transport, and further optimizing our operations.

Following our internal commitments, Samskip is currently finalizing its Science Based Targets submission for SBTi approval. According to the information available on the SBTi’s website, Samskip will be the first short-sea logistic operator in Europe to have its targets validated by the SBTi once they approve our targets.

However, realistically and humbly stated, It's important to mention that there is still a long way to go for our industry in collecting and sharing primary information for more accurate CO2 calculations, and for countries and organizations to make viable and strong commitments and investments to support the transition.

Find out more about how Samskip is striving to reduce our carbon footprint and prepare for a more sustainable future by visiting our sustainability page, or reading our sustainability report.