DP World embraces carbon management

In line with its commitment to reduce its carbon footprint significantly across its 50 marine terminals across the world, DP World has become the first global port operator to roll out Greenstone Carbon Management and The CarbonNeutral Company’s carbon management and reduction solution, which has been newly developed for the ports and marine sector.

The move comes as part of the global operator's initiatives begun in 2008 to reduce its carbon emissions by 27 percent over five years. Measuring and managing emissions is crucial to that effort and while DP World has invested in data collection systems at its terminals, in 2010, it commissioned Greenstone to further develop data gathering processes and set-up Greenstone's Acco2unt carbon management solution tailored to DP World's methodology, which is firmly based on the principles of the leading international standard - the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard. Greenstone and DP World also delivered a training programme for terminals to upload their data and analyse their performance on an ongoing basis.

Charles Haine, Global Environment Manager at DP World, has been leading the carbon reduction effort. "90 percent of goods are currently shipped by sea and our terminals play a crucial role in the supply chain," he explains. "In order to meet our industry-leading environmental targets, we needed to fully understand the impact of our business activities. We recognise that our ability to monitor our carbon emissions will help drive continuous improvement in our sustainability efforts. Due to the complex nature of our diverse business operations, we looked for a professional and cost efficient solution that was easy to use but allowed us to aggregate data from a wide various of sources.'

Adopting Acco2unt will help DP World drive the ethos of continual improvement in documenting its carbon footprint. It complements other recent successes in the journey to adopt a low-carbon approach such as being the first international operator to disclose its emissions publicly in the Carbon Disclosure Project.

"The implementation of Greenstone's Acco2unt software gives us a comprehensive reporting framework with a clear breakdown of our emissions which, in turn, allows us to compare performance across the business and drive continual improvement," Haine adds. "The beauty of the software is that we have tailored it to be able to report on the global portfolio while at the same time making it practical for individual terminals to get feedback on their performance. There's no doubt that Greenstone's software has automated much of the manual process, which can be prone to human error, and will enable us to develop targeted reduction projects with greater focus, transparency and efficiency."

Matthew de Villiers, Chief Executive Officer at Greenstone, sees carbon reduction as a key challenge for companies everywhere. "Businesses around the world are facing a significant increase in the administrative burden and complexity of measuring and reporting carbon emissions," he says. "We are delighted that DP World is already seeing results from using Acco2unt and is leading the way in carbon management within the marine terminal industry."

About

DP World is one of the largest marine terminal operators in the world, with 50 terminals and 11 new developments and expansion plans across 31 countries. Its dedicated, experienced and professional team of nearly 30,000 people serves customers in some of the most dynamic economies in the world.

DP World aims to enhance customers' supply chain efficiency by effectively managing container, bulk and other terminal cargo. The company constantly invests in terminal infrastructure, facilities and people, working closely with customers and business partners to provide quality services today and tomorrow, when and where customers need them.

In taking this customer-centric approach, DP World is building on the established relationships and superior level of service demonstrated at its flagship Jebel Ali facility in Dubai, which has been voted "Best Seaport in the Middle East" for 16 consecutive years.

In 2009, DP World handled more than 43.4 million twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEU) across its portfolio from the Americas to Asia. With a pipeline of expansion and development projects in key growth markets, including India, China and the Middle East, capacity is expected to rise to around 95 million TEU over the next 10 years, in line with market demand.