Clear Seas research indicates extent to which Green Marine participants advance U.N. aims
SustainabilityGreen Marine participants are contributing to more than half of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations.
The finding is part of a study by Clear Seas, an independent not-for-profit research organization and a Green Marine supporter, into how the sustainability efforts by Canada’s maritime industry relate to the 17 SDGs established by a U.N. resolution.
*Article updated on September 12, 2024.
Our high-level takeaway is if a company is certified by Green Marine, it is already contributing to 10 or 11 of the 17 SDGs, depending on the sector of activity
The director of Strategy and Engagement at Clear Seas adds: “And that company might be doing even more with other initiatives that aren’t part of the primarily environmentally focused Green Marine certification.”
The project is being done in collaboration with the Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA), a Green Marine association member, and Green Marine. The study has looked at the information publicly available in some way for ship owners, port authorities, terminal operators and shipyard operators.
“When Clear Seas approached us about this initiative, we had already intended to look at how the SDGs correlate with Green Marine’s performance indicators and welcomed the research expertise at Clear Seas,” says Véronique Trudeau, the Green Marine program manager assigned to this project.
We will use it to develop online resources to make it much easier for our members and the general public to identify the links between Green Marine’s performance indicators and relevant SDGs.
In July 2017, the U.N. first published a resolution with the targets and indicators for each of the 17 SDGs that include everything from ending poverty, to taking climate action, to reducing inequalities. Each SDG typically has eight to 12 targets, and each target has between one and four indicators to measure progress.
With us now being more than halfway towards the 2030 objectives, we wanted to determine what the maritime industry in Canada was doing to contribute to their achievement.
Clears Seas research lead Clara Kaufmann shares: “We also wanted to provide maritime operations with another way to convey what they are doing in terms of sustainability to people who may not be familiar with the maritime industry at community organizations, municipalities, or elsewhere.”
Kaufmann began the research by eliminating the SDGs unlikely to apply to maritime sustainability efforts, and then identifying the ones that had the most relevance. “The next step was looking at all the publicly available information related to possible maritime sustainability actions in certification programs, sustainability reports, environmental reward/discount programs and other sources,” Kaufmann says.
The research indicates that reporting by maritime companies in Canada on SDGs of high relevance is low – ranging from 25% to 45%. In some aspects of the industry, the gap is substantial. “Of the 17 shipyards in Canada, for example, only one of them had this type of information publicly available,” Mathieson notes.
“It could be these companies, along with others, are taking steps that contribute to these SDGs, but their lack of reporting on these activities makes it difficult to capture that information,” Mathieson adds.
“Our intent with this research is to create resources that will make it easier for companies to share their sustainability efforts.”
The number of shipyards with relevant public information will increase this year with Green Marine having introduced environmental performance indicators specifically for them to use as of this year in relating their 2023 efforts. “We introduced the standalone criteria for shipyards when their number began to increase within our membership,” David Bolduc, Green Marine’s president notes.
Since then have seen it rise more quickly in conjunction with the resurgence of North American shipyards and their greater preoccupation with sustainable practices.
Mathieson says a checklist of some kind might also build awareness of the correlation between a maritime operation’s sustainability efforts and certain SDGs.
For example, there could be an item that notes investments in emissions reduction, such as shore power, apply to Goal 3 - Good Health and Well-Being, because of improvements to people’s air quality
“Or if a port offers a discount program to vessels that use a cleaner fuel while in harbour, that port could tick a box related to Goal 3,” Mathieson explains.
The other highly relevant SDGs on which maritime reporting is quite low are Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and Goal 15 (Life on Land) to which ecosystem restorations directly apply.
Mathieson hopes the research will offer guidance to any maritime enterprise that wants to do more in terms of sustainable operations but isn’t sure where to begin.
If tugboat operators, for example, can see how investment in electric tugs will contribute to several SDGs, that can help inform their decision
Seeking to determine specifically how Green Marine’s performance indicators relate to SDGs, Trudeau and Kaufman examined, interpreted and integrated how they link – directly and/or indirectly – with each other.
“Interestingly, it’s Green Marine’s newest performance indicator, Aquatic Ecosystems, which applies to ports, that has the greatest correlation with SDGs with 16 targets from 9 different SDGs that are linked to the various criteria of the indicator,” Trudeau notes. “Reporting on this new indicator was optional for the 2023 performance year, but it becomes mandatory for reporting on 2024 activities.”
The Air Emissions - GHG performance indicator is the second one with the greatest correlation with a total of 13 targets from 10 different SDGs linked to this indicator.
Overall, the Green Marine program addresses a total of 25 targets related to 11 SDGs:
Clear Seas publishes this research, the full report will be available on its website and Clear Seas will explain the findings in more detail to Green Marine and ACPA members. Green Marine will also use the final report to integrate the findings within its performance indicator framework.
“We’re providing the information so that people who might not want to read all the steps involved in the 1-to-5 scale of performance for each Green Marine indicator can have this perhaps more relatable reference instead,” Trudeau says.
It’s a way to show how our membership is contributing to these global SDGs so they get recognition for what they’re doing and perhaps encourage others within the industry to undertake initiatives related to them as well.
*Update as of September 12, 2024: The report is now published.