Carnival Corporation & plc has been awarded 'Best Marine Solution' in the Clean Tech category of The New Economy Awards 2014 for the second year in a row.
The Clean Tech Awards are presented by The New Economy, a quarterly publication whose goal is to stimulate financial investment and encourage discussion and debate of appropriate strategies for the promotion of global economic growth. Since the inception of the Clean Tech Awards in 2011, The New Economy has given these awards to companies who are pioneers in creating viable business models for the marketplace, solving environmental challenges and furthering economic development.
Commenting on the news, Carnival said: "This award recognizes Carnival Corporation's long tradition of making sustainability and environmental technology a top priority at the corporate level and across its nine global brands.
"Carnival Corporation has demonstrated a continued commitment to reducing the potential environmental impact of cruising, often exceeding regulatory standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory groups. This award honors the company's efforts to find new sustainability solutions to benefit the environment."
Towards the end of 2014, Carnival released its 2013 Sustainability Report detailing the company's sustainability efforts, including initiatives which it says have enabled it to meet its corporate goal to reduce its rate of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from shipboard operations by 20 percent - a year ahead of its initial plan.
To meet its corporate CO2 sustainability goal, Carnival and its nine global brands developed energy reduction and conservation initiatives, many of which are said to exceed current laws and regulations. The company's brands include Carnival Cruise Lines, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn in the U.S.; AIDA Cruises in Germany; Costa Cruises in Italy; and P&O Cruises (United Kingdom) and P&O Cruises (Australia).
As part of its air emission reduction initiatives announced in September 2013, Carnival pioneered an effort to develop exhaust gas cleaning technology, called ECO-EGC, that is said to remove pollutants from the exhaust gases at any operating condition of a ship – at sea, during manoeuvring and in port. Carnival is currently installing the systems on its cruise vessels and has plans for installations on more than 70 percent of its fleet.
In addition to this initiative, Carnival and its nine brands have implemented other measures to deliver on the corporate commitment to protect the environment. Highlights include:
- Committing to invest more than $400 million to install exhaust gas cleaning technology to 70 percent of its fleet.
- Introducing two new ships, Royal Princess and AIDAstella, which Carnival says are "among the most efficient ships at sea today, both from a unit cost and fuel efficiency standpoint".
- Investing up to $700 million into the company's ships and operations.
- Implementing a multi-year Fleet Fuel Conservation Program that by the end of 2014 saved the company more than one billion gallons of fuel and reduced fleet carbon emissions by 12 billion kilograms over a seven-year period.
- Improving the fleet's overall fuel efficiency by 24 percent compared to 2007, while saving approximately $2.5 billion in fuel costs, the company's single biggest expense.
"Receiving this honor for the second year in a row is an important validation from outside the company of our commitment to sustainability and being a responsible steward of the oceans and seas," said
Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation. "From installing filtering technology to minimize a ship's rate of emissions to reducing onboard energy consumption and ultimately fuel consumption, along with many other proactive practices, protecting the environment is one of our most important priorities. It is the right thing to do for our business, and more importantly, it is the right thing to do for the environment."
