By
Laura Hyde |
Carnival Corporation has surpassed several of its sustainability goals well in advance of its original 2030 target, according to its latest report, Sustainable from Ship to Shore.
The company, which owns nine cruise brands, has released its 14th annual sustainability report which details its environmental initiatives and the ‘meaningful progress’ made in numerous sustainability focus areas.
Carnival Corporation surpassed its shore power goal in 2023, seven years ahead of schedule, with 64 per cent of its fleet now capable of connecting to shore power. This means the company has twice as many ships able to plug into shore power stations across the globe than there are ports equipped to provide shore power. Carnival Corporation has committed to working with port authorities worldwide to increase adoption of the technology.
Carnival Corporation is also four years ahead of schedule when it comes to achieving its goal of decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity by at least 20 per cent by 2030 (compared to 2019). Consequently, it has formally committed to attaining this target by 2026 instead, putting it ahead of the International Maritime Organization’s 2030 carbon intensity reduction timeline. Implementing various climate action initiatives has also enabled Carnival Corporation to cut absolute GHG emissions by 10 per cent, compared to 2011, despite increasing capacity by roughly 30 per cent in the same timeframe.
The company also recorded a 68 per cent reduction in particulate matter emissions (versus the 2015 baseline). This means it has already exceeded its goal to reduce particulate matter emissions by 50 per cent by 2030.
Carnival’s 2023 Sustainability Report highlights numerous initiatives the company is implementing to achieve its environmental goals
Other highlights from the report include a 38 per cent decrease in food waste per person (versus the 2019 baseline), putting Carnival Corporation two percentage points away from its goal of a 40 per cent reduction by 2025. The company has committed to continuing efforts towards halving food waste by 2030.
In addition, the company eliminated 500 million single-use items from the fleet by the end of 2023 compared to 2018. Originally, it aimed to halve the use of these items by 2030 but it surpassed this goal in 2021, nine years early.
By the end of 2023, the company had outfitted 70 per cent of its fleet with advanced waste water treatment systems and aims to have equipped 75 per cent of its vessels with the technology by 2030.
“Thanks to our 160,000 remarkable team members who show up every day with passion and dedication, 2023 was a year of significant accomplishments across the board,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO and chief climate officer for Carnival Corporation. “We demonstrated our continued commitment to leading the way in making cruising more sustainable, marked by amazing progress toward reaching – and in many cases exceeding – our vital 2030 environmental performance targets. Since we're so aggressively tracking towards all our 2030 sustainability goals, we're evaluating new interim targets along our pursuit of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.”
Read the full Sustainable from Ship to Shore report on Carnival’s Sustainability website.