Many companies in every industrial sector are aware of the importance of not only reducing their carbon footprint but announcing their efforts to the world. No part of world trade is under more scrutiny in this respect than the carriage of air and ocean freight. Now leading container shipping line CMA CGM have released figures to demonstrate how successfully they are battling the problem and their commitment to continue on the same path with an eye to lowering the amount of pollution produced for every kilo of freight per kilometre.

The CMA CGM Group has made climate change one of its main concerns. In the last five years, the Group has taken numerous measures which have enabled it to reduce CO2 emissions from its fleet (both owned and chartered) by 35%. Among the wide variety of actions taken, the most notable was the company's decision to equip its new vessels with the latest environmental technologies (electronically controlled engines, improved hydrodynamics, waste recycling, etc.) with the result that these vessels discharge only 52 grams of CO2 per km/TEU.

Overall the fleet have also achieved notable reductions. "Since 2005, we have been steadily reducing our CO2 emissions down from 116 to 86 grams per km/TEU. In line with our environmental strategy, we aim to continue our efforts to reach 82 grams by the end of 2011," explains Philippe Borel, Environment Director of the CMA CGM Group, emphasising that the switch to slow steaming has played a major part in the performance.