There are several ways for companies to meet their sustainability goals of reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Two of the more popular methods are purchasing carbon offsets and choosing more sustainable methods like finding greener ways of transporting goods.

At Green Shipping Line (GSL), we refer to these as “passive” and “active” strategies and submit that anything that actively removes carbon emissions is superior to passive efforts.

Purchasing carbon offsets is usually achieved by funding the capture and storage of carbon in trees in a forest. There are four significant benefits gained using this method:

1. Forests are preserved.
2. Carbon is stored in the trees for a mandated period (often 50 to 100 years).
3. Carbon credits can be sold at the beginning of the preservation period.
4. Companies can meet their sustainability goals and enterprise carbon emission “caps.”

We would nominate buying forests as a “passive storage method” for reducing carbon emissions as the company itself doesn’t have to change or alter anything to achieve the carbon savings. However, the stored carbon in the forests will eventually be released when the trees are harvested or due to a natural disaster like a forest fire. While it is assumed that someday science will discover ways to capture and eliminate carbon before it escapes into the atmosphere, there is no guarantee. 

Although some forest projects have been successful, numerous have fallen short of achieving their intended goal according to an article published in ProPublica, “An (Even More) Inconvenient Truth: Why Carbon Credits for Forest Preservation May Be Worse Than Nothing,” While there is much publicity about forests capturing carbon, we at GSL focus on the positive and the possible.

Luckily, there are other ways to reduce carbon emissions, including eliminating carbon emissions altogether before they are emitted. We call these “active methods” and firmly believe the best carbon emission is one that never reaches the atmosphere and causes harm to our planet, rather than one that is stored where re-emission is a possibility.

One such “active method” is our plan to build a Jones Act vessel to transport cargo/containers by water on one leg of a transportation supply chain. Because moving goods by water is more environmentally friendly, using water on the longest leg possible of a journey eliminates a large portion of truck emissions, gridlock, and reduces highway wear and tear, thereby reducing maintenance costs. This still allows a company to do what they need to do, but in a way that pollutes less.

Further, while the first and last miles of a cargo’s journey will always be by truck, the trucks can be all-electric as the transfer distances are shorter. A cargo container would have a much lower carbon footprint in our scheme than an all-truck journey.

Green Shipping Line’s method of moving cargo is called trans-shipment and has been widely adopted worldwide. In the cap and trade and carbon cap worlds, the differences in carbon emissions from landside transfers to a water solution are calculable using the EU’s Marco Polo Calculator. Using the calculator, carbon is not emitted and can be converted into salable carbon credits.

Building a vessel has other significant financial benefits other than carbon credits. Some of the other attributes generated by building a vessel include:

1. A vessel carrying cargo on the water can create carbon credits on a daily basis.
2. A vessel is a highly efficient tax-efficient asset with a 10-year depreciation schedule.
3. Building a vessel creates green jobs: in the shipyards, in the ports, terminals, and on the water.
4. Owning a “green” asset can transport cargo economically.
5. Jones Act assets often appreciate and can be sold for a profit.

While owning forests is a great investment as it helps reduce carbon emissions, creates carbon credits and preserves the environment, we think building a vessel that shifts cargo to the water is a better investment. The ability to reduce emissions permanently (by not ever having them emitted in the first place) is a strong reason to consider utilizing an active method of reducing carbon emissions. A vessel is an asset that keeps on giving in so many ways – not only to the environment but to the economy as well.