Svitzer has signed a global EcoTow agreement with the Wallenius Wilhelmsen group. “The agreement marks a major step in Svitzer’s decarbonisation journey and supports Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s ambition to reduce Scope 3 emissions across Svitzer’s global operations,” Svitzer said in a statement.
Scoping it out
Scope 3 emissions are greenhouse gas emissions that are indirect emissions that occur from the value chain of an organisation’s activities. While they are induced into existence by the company’s activities, Scope 3 emissions are generated by sources that the organisation does not own or control. Supply chain emissions are very good examples of Scope 3 emissions – a manufacturer, for example, might not own or control the fleet of trucks that deliver its supplies and distribute its products. In the current context, Wallenius buys towage services from a third party, Svitzer, which is an entity that Wallenius neither owns nor controls.
Scope 1 emissions are greenhouse gas emission from an organisation’s activities and Scope 2 emissions are from the generation of electricity / steam / heat / cooling that the organisation buys.
All of this is relevant under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol – a globally standardized framework for organisations to measure, account for, and report their greenhouse gas emissions – as the staff at the Protocol introduced the concept of Scope 1, 2, 3 emissions in 2001. Scope emissions may be reported publicly and to regulators. For instance, eligible organisations must report Scope 1 and emissions in their annual reports in the United States (well, for now, anyway). Here in Australia, eligible organisations report their Scope 1 and 2 emissions to the National Clean Energy Regulator, which then publishes that data on both an individual and aggregate basis.
Although Scope 3 emissions might not be reportable, in some ways they are the most important of the three as they account for up to 75% of an organisation’s emissions footprint. Today, investors, suppliers, and, of course, customers, are increasingly concerned with lowering their emissions and may take action – as is the case here in the Wallenius / Svitzer agreement – to lower Scope 3 emissions. As Svitzer points out in a statement, there is a growing customer demand for voluntary emissions reduction schemes that “go beyond” regulatory requirements.
Svitzer / Wallenius tie-up
The Svitzer / Wallenius agreement covers tug jobs across markets in Australia, the UK, and Scandinavia. Svitzer uses biofuels across its network and then “banks” the resultant carbon dioxide savings in its emissions ledger. Those savings are then allocated to Wallenius, allowing the company to reduce emissions related to towage.
“This collaboration demonstrates the importance of partnerships in our decarbonisation efforts. Working with a like-minded partner like Svitzer gives us a reliable path to reduce emissions beyond our direct operations,” says Ove Moring, Senior Manager Supplier Contracting & Equipment, Wallenius Wilhelmsen.
Gareth Prowse, Svitzer’s Head of Decarbonisation added that: “we see EcoTow not only as a solution for today, but as a bridge to more transformative change. These agreements show that our customers are ready to act now, not later.”
