MIAMI – Carnival Corporation & plc released its 10th annual sustainability report, developed in accordance to the high standards of the Global Reporting Initiative. Titled “Sustainability from Ship to Shore,” the report is available on the company’s newly redesigned sustainability website.
In 2019, Carnival Corporation achieved the remaining targets within its 2020 sustainability goals and established new goals as part of its initial 2030 sustainability goals, including a commitment to reduce the rate of carbon emissions by 40%, which aligns with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements in alignment with the Paris Agreement and in support of the United Nations Agenda 2030.
“At the core of our company-wide sustainability efforts are our top priorities as a corporation, which are compliance, environmental protection, and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, the communities we visit and our crew,” said Bill Burke, chief maritime officer for Carnival Corporation. “The annual sustainability report is critical to providing our stakeholders with a transparent view of our progress against key metrics and demonstrating our commitment to protecting the environment, supporting communities and being compliant everywhere we operate in the world. As we look toward the future, we will continue to innovate and invest in sustainable initiatives to support compliance and sustainable tourism.”
Carnival Corporation first shared its 2020 sustainability goals in 2015, identifying 10 key objectives, including reducing its carbon footprint, improving the fleet’s air emissions, reducing waste generation, improving water use efficiency, and supporting guests, crew members and local communities. The company's latest sustainability report details progress made in 2019 to achieve and surpass those goals, while defining an initial set of sustainability commitments beyond 2020. The progress includes:
- Carbon Footprint: Achieved 29.1% reduction in CO2e intensity relative to 2005 baseline, which is additional progress on top of reaching the original goal of 25% reduction in carbon intensity in 2017; additionally, the company committed to a new goal of 40% reduction in its rate of carbon emissions by 2030 relative to 2008 baseline.
- Advanced Air Quality Systems: As of the end of 2019, 77% of the fleet was equipped with Advanced Air Quality Systems, capable of removing nearly all sulfur from exhaust, enabling cleaner air emissions at port and at sea with no negative impact to the marine environment.
- Cold Ironing: At the end of 2019, 47 of the company’s ships featured the ability to use shoreside electric power while docked, with the ships able to connect at 12 global cruise ports equipped with the technology, further reducing air emissions in ports where this option is available.
- Advanced Waste Water Treatment Systems: Reached initial goal by achieving a 10.3 percentage points increase in coverage of fleetwide capacity relative to 2014 baseline.
- Waste Reduction: Reached initial goal by achieving a 5.6% reduction in waste rate relative to 2016 baseline and committed to a new food waste reduction goal of 10% across the fleet by the end of 2021. The company also committed to a new goal to reduce all non-essential single-use items and plastics on board by 50% by the end of 2021.
- Water Efficiency: Surpassed goal by achieving an 8.7% reduction relative to 2010 baseline and further improved water efficiency by supplying 82% of water needs from the ocean, purchasing only 18% of the water needed onboard ships at designated ports.
Pathway to Decarbonization
Carnival Corporation is committed to addressing climate change and continuing to lead the pathway to decarbonization within the cruise industry. As part of this commitment, decarbonization efforts in 2019 included:
- Carbon Emission Goal: The company made further progress on its 2020 carbon reduction goal first achieved three years ahead of schedule in 2017, and committed to a new goal of 40% reduction in the intensity of CO2e emissions by 2030.
- Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): The company continued to pioneer the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the cruise industry by introducing the second LNG-powered ship for its global fleet, Costa Smeralda, which joined AIDAnova as the first cruise vessels in the world to be powered by LNG. As the marine industry’s most advanced fuel technology, LNG has a lower carbon emission profile, eliminates sulfur and significantly improves overall air emissions.
- Advanced Air Quality Systems: Carnival Corporation continued the installation and retrofitting of its global fleet with Advanced Air Quality Systems, which remove nearly all sulfur from ships’ engine exhaust, reducing particulates and nitrogen oxides, with over 77% of the company’s fleet equipped.
- Fuel Cell Technologies: Carnival Corporation announced a joint venture project to develop a decentralized energy network and a hybrid energy system with a new generation of fuel cells for use in oceangoing passenger vessels. Scheduled for 2021, AIDA Cruises will be the world’s first cruise company to test the use of fuel cells to cut carbon emissions on a large passenger ship.
- Battery Systems: The company’s AIDA Cruises brand signed an agreement with Corvus Energy, the world’s leading marine battery supplier, for the production and installation of a first-of-its-kind lithium-ion battery storage system on a cruise ship that can power the ship’s propulsion and operation for limited periods of time, expected to begin in 2021.
- Getting to Zero Coalition: Carnival Corporation became the first cruise company to join the Getting to Zero Coalition, an alliance of organizations across the maritime, energy, infrastructure and finance sectors committed to accelerating the decarbonization of the international shipping industry.
Operation Oceans Alive
In its second year, Operation Oceans Alive – Carnival Corporation’s environmental stewardship program – continued to expand through new programs and procedural changes, commitments, and educational and training channels. Initiatives and efforts in 2019 included:
- Reducing Single-Use Plastics: Carnival Corporation committed to significantly reducing all non-essential single-use items, including plastics, on board its ships by 50% by the end of 2021. By the end of 2019, the company reduced the sourcing of approximately 80 million plastic items and approximately 95 million other single-use items, including straws, cups, lids, stir sticks, cocktail picks, toothpicks, butter foils and plastic shopping bags, which have since been eliminated or replaced with sustainable alternatives wherever possible.
- Food Waste Reduction: The company committed to reducing food waste across its entire fleet by 10% by the end of 2021 and is working on solutions to revise existing practices and develop new food waste management systems on board.
- Bio-Digester Technology: Carnival Corporation continued to evaluate technologies and operations to minimize the volume of food waste generated on board its ships by installing additional bio-digesters throughout the fleet, which efficiently break down food waste, significantly enhancing the ability to efficiently manage food waste on board.
- Environmental Training: The company announced a partnership with the University of West Florida (UWF) to enhance its fleetwide environmental officer training program with the launch of an innovative and interactive Environmental Excellence course that consists of a virtual 23-day voyage. Participants of varying experience levels work together in small cross-brand teams to enhance communication, collaboration and leadership skills by solving real-world challenges.
Commitment to Compliance
In 2019, Carnival Corporation focused on enhancing its compliance framework by developing a dedicated ethics and compliance program and corresponding strategic plan. Through this, the company significantly increased the resources devoted to its compliance function. Key highlights from 2019 include:
- Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer: In August 2019, Pete Anderson joined Carnival Corporation as chief ethics and compliance officer. In this newly created role, Anderson directs strategy for and drives a culture of compliance and integrity to adhere to legal and statutory requirements, company policies and the highest ethical principles. He also leads the effort to develop a well-resourced, effective and well-integrated compliance program that is built upon compliance risk, innovative compliance training, robust investigations, open communications and continuous improvement.
- Compliance Committees: To further heighten the focus on ethics and compliance, the Boards of Directors established the compliance committees to oversee the ethics and compliance program, maintain regular communications with the chief ethics and compliance officer, and ensure implementation of the ethics and compliance program’s strategic plan across the corporation.
Community Support & Engagement
Carnival Corporation continued its commitment to the vitality and sustainability of communities, both in home ports and in the destinations that its ships regularly visit throughout the world. In 2019, the company continued to engage in initiatives and partnerships that support and sponsor a broad range of organizations for the benefit of local and global communities including:
- Disaster Relief: Carnival Corporation pledged up to $2 million in funding and in-kind support for relief efforts and partnered with Tropical Shipping to collect and deliver an estimated 10 million pounds of donated food and supplies for The Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian. The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of The Bahamas to rebuild Rand Memorial Hospital, the primary hospital in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, which sustained significant damage from Hurricane Dorian.
- Destination Development: In the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, Carnival Corporation signed an agreement with the government of The Bahamas to build two major port developments including a new cruise port destination primarily for Carnival Cruise Line on Grand Bahama, and construction of a new addition, including a pier, on the Bahamian island of Little San Salvador, home to Holland America Line’s Half Moon Cay port.
- Soap Initiative: Carnival Corporation’s Carnival Cruise Line brand partnered with Clean the World and Soap Aid, organizations that recycle hotel soap and hotel amenities. Together, Carnival Cruise Line and its soap recycling partners will globally distribute more than 400,000 recycled, clean bars of soap to people in need.
- Sahara Forest Project: The company’s Costa Crociere Foundation joined forces with the Sahara Forest Project Foundation to enlarge the Norwegian nonprofit’s scope to revegetate the desert in Jordan with sustainable technologies and to promote social and environmental improvement within the region. The project focuses on combining saltwater-cooled greenhouses, solar energy panels and different techniques for outdoor revegetation in dry areas.
Diversity & Inclusion
Carnival Corporation continues to build a diverse and inclusive workforce and provides all employees with a positive work environment and opportunities to build a rewarding career to further drive employee engagement. Diversity and inclusion efforts and accomplishments in 2019 include:
- Recognitions: The company earned a perfect score of 100 for the third consecutive year from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the leading LGBTQ civil rights organization in the U.S., and was designated a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality. The company was also recognized by Newsweek on its inaugural list of America’s Most Responsible Companies, in addition to recognitions from Forbes as one of America’s Best Large Employers and Best Employers for Diversity, and from Corporate Responsibility Magazine as one of 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2019.
- Catalyst: Carnival Corporation continues to work with Catalyst, a leading U.S. nonprofit with a mission to expand opportunities for women.
- Sensory Inclusion: In 2019, Carnival Cruise Line expanded its commitment to making a cruise vacation more accessible for everyone when the brand became the first cruise operator to be certified “sensory inclusive” by KultureCity, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accessibility and inclusion for individuals with sensory needs and invisible disabilities.
- Value 500: Carnival Corporation’s Carnival UK became a Value 500 member, an organization committed to putting disability and inclusion on the business agenda.