Principle 1

Assessment of climate alignment

Under the Sea Cargo Charter, Signatories will calculate the climate alignment of their chartering activities relative to established decarbonization trajectories.

PRINCIPLE

“We will annually assess climate alignment in line with the Technical Guidance for all chartering activities.”

OUR COMMITMENT
Signatories will, on an annual basis, calculate the GHG emission intensity and total GHG emissions, and will assess climate alignment (carbon intensity relative to established decarbonization trajectories) of their chartering activities. This requirement takes effect for each Signatory in the following calendar year after the calendar year in which it became a Signatory.

Assessing climate alignment
The Sea Cargo Charter uses carbon intensity relative to established decarbonization trajectories to measure climate alignment.

Climate alignment is defined as the degree to which voyage carbon intensity of a vessel category is in line with a decarbonization trajectory that meets the IMO ambition of reducing total annual GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050 based on 2008 levels.

The Sea Cargo Charter relies specifically on the Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI) as the carbon intensity metric, which produces the closest measure of the vessel’s true carbon intensity in operation, to a high level of granularity. The EEOI uses the parameters of fuel consumption, the GHG emission factor for each fuel type, distance travelled while laden with transported cargo, and amount of cargo transported over given voyage.

What is a decarbonization trajectory?
A decarbonization trajectory is a representation of how many grams of CO2 can be emitted to move one tonne of goods one nautical mile over a time horizon. To assess climate alignment of a voyage, the carbon intensity is compared with the decarbonization trajectory for its respective ship type and size class.

Standard decarbonization trajectories are produced by the Secretariat of the Sea Cargo Charter for each ship type and size class.

Learn more about Assessment in the Technical Guidance