Tata Steel & Sea Cargo Charter joined to meet climate goals

LONDON : Tata Steel has joined the Sea Cargo Charter (SCC), which seeks to reduce the environmental impacts of global seaborne cargo, becoming the first steel manufacturer to sign the worldwide agreement.

Launched in October 2020, the SCC establishes a common, global baseline to quantitatively assess and disclose whether ship chartering activities are in line with climate goals set by the United Nations maritime agency, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

By signing the SCC, Tata Steel becomes the 24th organisation to join the association and said it builds on the Indian steel major’s sustainability objectives and initiatives.

“As a leader in the steel industry, which continuously sets benchmark in sustainable operations, it is imperative that we look at reducing emissions with similar determination,” said Peeyush Gupta, Vice President of Supply Chain for Tata Steel.

“This is a decisive step in the direction to measure correctly and mitigate the impact on climate efficiently and innovatively,” he said.

The IMO’s Initial GHG Strategy sets out its ambitions to reduce total annual Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions generated by shipping activity by at least 50 per cent of 2008 levels by 2050, whilst pursuing efforts towards phasing them out as soon as possible in this century.

“We are truly proud to be a signatory of the Charter as it represents another critical phase in our efforts to tackle climate change around the world,” said Ranjan Sinha, Chief Group Shipping and Director Raw Material Procurement of Tata Steel.

“Having established a strong reputation for corporate governance, it is befitting that we collaborate with world’s leading organisations across industry to establish global standards for sustainable shipping. We are committed to aligning our chartering activities with responsible environmental behaviour,” he said.

As part of Tata Steel’s efforts to align with the charter’s ambitions, the company also announced a partnership with Danish technology company Optimum Voyage to use big data to help lower emissions from ships delivering raw material to its European operations.

Tata Steel is one of Europe”s leading steel producers, with steelmaking in the Netherlands and the UK, and manufacturing plants across Europe. The company says it supplies high-quality steel products to the most demanding markets, including construction and infrastructure, automotive, packaging and engineering.