Carnival Corporation & plc on Tuesday announced its initial set of 2030 sustainability goals, as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainability and compliance throughout its global operations. Following the achievement of its 2020 sustainability goals, Carnival Corporation has established new goals for 2030 and aspirations for 2050, incorporating six focus areas that align with some of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These areas include: Climate action; circular economy (waste reduction); sustainable tourism; health and well-being; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); and biodiversity and conservation.
Detailed below, Carnival Corporation is announcing several new goals, targets and aspirations for 2030 and beyond for two of its six focus areas that will guide its actions to further strengthen its environmental, social and governance performance. Carnival Corporation’s sustainability commitments under the climate action and circular economy focus areas include:
Climate Action:
- Achieve a 40 percent reduction in carbon rate per available lower berth day by 2030, relative to a 2008 baseline.
- Confirmation that the company peaked its absolute carbon emissions in 2011, despite an approximately 20 percent capacity increase between 2011 and today with an additional 19 percent capacity increase on order, and a commitment to continue to reduce emissions over time and identify a pathway to decarbonization.
- Expand its alternative fuels strategy across its liquefied natural gas (LNG) program and battery, fuel cell and biofuel capabilities.
- Deliver a 50 percent reduction in absolute air emissions of particulate matter by 2030 relative to a 2015 baseline, despite an over 10 percent capacity increase since 2015 and the additional 19 percent capacity increase on order.
- Increase fleetwide shore power connection capability to at least 60 percent of the fleet by 2030.
- Achieve net carbon neutral operations by 2050.
Circular Economy:
- Achieve 50 percent reduction in single-use plastic items by the end of 2021, relative to a 2018 baseline.
- Achieve 30 percent per capita food waste reduction by 2022 and 50 percent by 2030, relative to a 2019 baseline.
- Increase fleetwide coverage of Advanced Waste Water Treatment Systems to at least 75 percent by 2030.
- Aspire to build zero emissions ships by 2050.
Carnival Corporation will detail additional 2030 sustainability goals and 2050 aspirations covering all six of its focus areas in its 2020 Sustainability Report to be issued later this summer.
The new set of 2030 sustainability targets and 2050 aspirations build on the momentum of the company’s performance relative to its 2020 sustainability goals, which were achieved and, in some cases, surpassed in 2019—one year ahead of schedule.
As part of its plan for carbon footprint reduction, the company leads the cruise industry’s use of LNG to power cruise ships with a total of 11 “next-generation” cruise ships that will have joined the fleet through 2025, which will represent nearly 20 percent of its total capacity, including four ships already in operation. The company also pioneered the use of Advanced Air Quality Systems on board its ships and is promoting the use of shore power, enabling ships to use shoreside electric power where available while in port.
In addition, the company has implemented broad initiatives to optimize onboard energy use, and innovative hull designs and coatings to reduce fuel consumption by minimizing frictional drag, along with trialing innovative technologies for generating power on cruise ships, including battery power and fuel cells.
Additional information on Carnival Corporation’s sustainability efforts is available at www.carnivalsustainability.com.
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