Beyond Greenwashing: Redefining Sustainability in the Maritime Supply Chain

As more and more companies respond to regulatory efforts to curtail climate change, there is often an accompanying temptation to capitalize on the environmental initiatives that a company has undertaken to impress customers and investors.

While plenty of companies deserve to publicize their valiant efforts to reduce their emissions output, one potential pitfall for organizations is to emphasize how they have adopted sustainable practices even though that adoption may yet be incomplete company-wide. While one department may have adopted measures to reduce emissions, another department may still be engaging in practices that harm the environment. Yet, that organization’s marketing department may overhype the actions taken to tackle climate change.

When that happens, it’s called greenwashing. Investopedia defines greenwashing as “when a company attempts to emphasize sustainable aspects of a product to overshadow the company’s involvement in environmentally damaging practices.” This also includes using labels that might tout the eco-friendly and biodegradable aspects of a product while not providing any evidence to back up those claims.  

As the maritime sector seeks to reduce supply chain emissions and comply with regulatory schemes such as the European Union’s emissions trading system, organizations also should have tools that allow them to show exactly where emissions reductions are occurring. By delivering measurable improvements, an organization can show just how it is incorporating sustainability principles instead of merely claiming that they’re doing so. 

At Searoutes, we’ve developed tools that help organizations do just that. 

Greenwashing Presents a Major Obstruction on the Path to Maritime Supply Chain Sustainability

The World Economic Forum defines greenwashing as promoting “‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ practices or products while ignoring their total contribution to climate change.” The group says that greenwashing can occur via selective disclosure, which means “advertising positive information regarding a product’s environmental performance while hiding the negative,” or through symbolic actions, such as drawing attention to minor issues without addressing more significant ones. 

Examples include promoting paper products as green without considering any environmental impacts that might have occurred in the making of that paper or donating to UNICEF while not addressing child labor in the supply chain, according to the World Economic Forum. Within the maritime industry, greenwashing might occur when attempting to designate greener shipping routes or greener fuels without having any evidence to back up those claims.

However, even if an organization is making fruitful efforts to tackle emissions and adopt sustainability initiatives, the possibility that the company might be accused of greenwashing is creating a chilling factor among businesses, according to an October 2023 TIME op-ed.

That’s why companies also need to consider what evidence or data they can give to prove that their efforts to implement sustainability measures are working.  

Amidst a Wave of Greenwashing, Smart Shippers Build Genuine Supply Chain Sustainability

Genuine efforts to enact sustainable practices and measures are crucial for long-term industry success in part because that’s the direction in which corporations and governments are headed. Regulatory efforts worldwide to reduce emissions, plus a heightened awareness among consumers and investors over companies’ roles in practicing environmental stewardship, are compelling organizations to adopt measures that seek to reduce a company’s environmental footprint.

To ensure that companies are on their way to achieving their sustainability goals, organizations need transparency and accountability to keep track of their accomplishments. 

3 Key Components of Authentic Maritime Sustainability

Having data to prove the progress made in reducing supply chain emissions and meeting sustainability goals can help companies go a long way. Searoutes has developed tools for organizations to track and monitor emissions output along the whole length of a supply chain.

Accurate Emissions Tracking

Precise emissions measurements and effective reporting enable organizations to share their successes with a broader audience while also helping to assure companies that they’re on the right track with their emissions reduction goals. 

Searoutes’ CO2 API provides organizations with visibility into their emissions output along the supply chain. Our API allows companies to compute their emissions output between two locations for any mode of transport, enabling organizations to gauge the effectiveness of their emissions reduction regiments.

Sustainable Operational Practices

Examples of sustainable practices that an organization might implement include route optimization and measures that encourage fuel efficiency. 

Our Routing API excels in helping organizations develop robust route optimization programs because the technology searches for ways to find optimized routes to reduce environmental impact. The API offers companies to see the shortest routes while factoring conditions such as traffic separation schemes, canals and port entries, piracy zones, and SECA/ECA zones. 

Meanwhile, our Vessel API allows users to see the historical trace of a given vessel between two dates in the past, factoring in conditions such as average speed, route characteristics, and vessel information.

Both these tools can serve as a foundation for building sustainable supply chains.

Regulatory Compliance and Beyond

Another component of authentic maritime sustainability is being able to show to governments such as the EU and the U.S. that your organization is meeting regulatory standards for emissions. That approval from regulatory bodies further illustrates to others an organization’s true commitment to sustainability. 

Searoutes’ API tools enable companies to provide evidence to their regulators via data that companies are meeting—and sometimes even exceeding—their emission reduction goals. This is in part because the APIs track real-time data that can be compared with historical data to spot trends.

Authenticity Starts with Having the Right Data

In the maritime supply chain, greenwashing obscures true sustainability efforts, often substituting superficial claims for substantive action. This blog post has explored the critical need for genuine sustainability practices that go beyond mere greenwashing. 

By leveraging Searoutes’ advanced technologies—emissions monitoring, routing optimization, and vessel data—companies can transition from hollow claims to meaningful environmental impact. Contact Searoutes today to learn how your organization can avoid greenwashing and develop effective emission reduction strategies and reporting programs.