MSC Group's cruise division announced its commitment to join the Green Marine Europe Label, thus becoming the first major cruise company to do so.
It is a voluntary environmental certification program for the maritime industry. After the success of Green Marine’s North American environmental certification program, the European initiative was launched back in 2020 to create a mechanism supporting shipowners in demonstrating their environmental performance on a European scale. This will support the Cruise Division’s pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
MSC Group's two brands - MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys (fleet), are committed to measuring their environmental performance as per the program’s guidelines annually, tracking progress across 8 key performance indicators: aquatic invasive species, pollutant air emissions (NOx), pollutant air emissions (SOx and PM), greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, oily discharge, underwater noise, responsible ship recycling.
The world's largest container shipping company MSC Group has made considerable advances across the areas of its cruise ship operations due to the deployment of some state-of-the-art environmental technologies, solutions, and fuels. These include ballast water treatment systems, advanced emissions control systems, and advanced wastewater treatment systems. Explora Journeys' first two boats - Explora 1 and Explora 2, are currently under construction in Italy, being built by Fincantieri's yard in Monfalcone.
Both brands have committed to submitting their annual environmental performance results to an external accredited verification party and publishing them.
The Green Marine Europe Label is a result of the partnerships of The North American environmental certification program Green Marine, which has been operational for 10 years, and Surfrider Foundation, a leading NGO in the ocean and maritime protection in the EU (European Union). The partnership was founded in 2019, and the program was launched in the 2020 spring.