According to the World Economic Forum, adopting the parallel transition can help shipping companies increase efficiency and reduce their environmental impact. In other words, the digitalization of maritime transport can help reduce carbon emissions in maritime transport.
APM Terminals is exploring new technologies to curb carbon in line with the company’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. The Twin Transition Playbook is shared with relevant stakeholders to foster change across the industry.
Maritime transport contributes around 3% of global emissions and consumes a lot of energy. As part of broader decarbonization goals, logistics companies are turning to the twin transition: the aligned acceleration of the digital and sustainability agendas.
Twin Transition Playbook brings together digital and sustainability through two core strategies: “greening IT” and “greening by IT.”
Greening IT reduces the energy consumption and environmental footprint of data centers, assets, infrastructure, and devices, while greening IT uses data to drive improvement in other business areas.
Heading towards sustainability
Working towards sustainability in shipping and logistics may seem like trying to make the dinosaurs dance, but multiple examples demonstrate the opportunities the twin transition can bring.
Industry leaders are embracing a wave of initiatives, including automation, GPS tracking, integrated logistics, and remote digital access solutions to benefit customers and deliver better sustainability outcomes. This can, for example, help monitor chemical levels and temperature of shipments, preventing spoilage and waste. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that up to half of all vaccines are wasted each year due to lack of temperature control at final storage sites. And technology like Star Connect, a monitoring system used on APM Terminals vessels, provides real-time visibility and data on engine and route efficiency, helping to reduce carbon emissions and improve shipping speeds. APM Terminals is part of A.P. Moller-Maersk and operates one of the most comprehensive port networks in the world.
In addition to enhancing environmental credentials, digitization fosters frictionless trade by removing barriers and addressing key issues. Now that customers require carbon accounting on their invoices, Maersk is also able to provide customers with accurate information on the CO2 emissions of each container on their ships.
Selection of the most impressive opportunities
Twin Transition Playbook guides the creation of a twin transition roadmap through three phases. In phases one and two, organizations establish their ambitions and priorities. Data is vital: you can’t change what you can’t measure. In phase three, organizations prepare for implementation by assigning responsibilities and validating feasibility.
Under phase one, companies can consider the environmental footprint as part of the broader criteria used to evaluate and prioritize new projects, such as capital expenditures, and incorporate similar environmental criteria within operating expenses. This is ‘Green OpEx’, a new term for the twin transition that highlights the relationship between greener and more efficient operations. Industry priorities include fuel and power use on ships, and power use in ports and warehouses.
Phase two of the playbook guides organizations in developing their roadmap with prioritized opportunities. This includes considering external use cases and internal ideas to discover new priorities along the way. After identifying opportunities, organizations prioritize them by understanding the impact of their current digital asset portfolio. The key is to target the biggest opportunities for maximum impact, an approach Maersk used to optimize fuel consumption on its vessels and reduce emissions.
As most of the terminal infrastructure is based on manual and diesel operations, high-impact actions include exploring new types of clean electricity, switching from diesel machines to electrification, and transitioning to renewable fuels such as biofuel. sustainable cooking oil.
Activating ecosystems
As stated in the playbook, it is crucial to activate trading ecosystems to build buy-in. Successful engagement is based on a clearly defined purpose that people can connect with and leaders who drive the purpose internally and externally.
Integrated decarbonization and sustainability teams ensure internal people are on board and help identify key people for specific tasks. External stakeholders can smooth out pain points and help achieve goals faster. Under carbon reporting requirements, organizations are required to measure and share their direct scope one and two emissions, as well as supplier emissions through scope three. Working with partners to create more digitally enabled sustainable ecosystems is a win-win. For example, APM is working with business partners in the IT sector to reduce energy consumption and decarbonize terminal operations.
Ecosystems also present an opportunity to feed into government objectives and policies and drive environmental impact across the entire port ecosystem. In Aqaba, for example, APM is exploring not only how the terminal can become a hub for next-generation fuels and zero-carbon logistics, but also how to positively impact society. Making significant and sustained change means looking at the whole piece: ships, facilities, infrastructure, operations,
Source: World Economic Forum
