The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) announces the launch of the updated Roadmap to a sustainable shipping industry, a resource for stakeholders across the shipping value chain to navigate the major, pressing sustainability challenges facing the industry.

There is a clear need to reshape the way shipping operates in the face of current and future challenges: from a changing climate and the need for rapid decarbonisation by 2050; to increased scrutiny and pressure from investors, lenders and other financial stakeholders to improve sustainability performance and reporting; to the labour and human rights risks faced by seafarers worldwide, and highlighted by the ongoing crew change crisis.

Consisting of six vision areas – Oceans, Communities, People, Transparency, Finance, and Energy – each aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and with its own set of objectives and interrelated milestones, the Roadmap sets out opportunities for positive impact across and beyond the shipping value chain.

Companies and organisations can use the Roadmap’s 60 milestones as indicators against which they report and track progress of their respective sustainability journeys.

Developed by members of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative with review and feedback from industry, the Roadmap deepens our individual and collective understanding of the barriers and opportunities, creating a common language and purpose for a sustainable, successful shipping industry.

Initially launched in 2016, the Roadmap was updated in 2020 to reflect the continuous changes in the maritime landscape and ensure its ongoing relevance. The updated Roadmap is a call to action, increasing ambition to respond to the global challenges and trends expected to affect the industry in the coming decades.

SSI Executive Director Andrew Stephens said: “The Roadmap to a sustainable shipping industry shows us what sustainable shipping looks like, highlighting how we as an industry can play our part in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. From ocean governance; to port and coastal communities; seafarers and shipping workers; transparency and accountability; financial solutions to enable maritime innovation; to the radical decarbonisation of shipping – all of these elements are key in our collective journey to a sustainable and successful maritime industry.

The Roadmap is a tool for the industry to rally around and against which we can hold ourselves accountable. We hope all stakeholders engaged across the shipping value chain, will find the Roadmap useful and reflect on the pathways that we can individually and collectively contribute to, navigating to sustainable shipping in the months, years, and decades to come.”
Source: SSI (Sustainable Shipping Initiative)