Wallenius has identified five main areas of environmental impact from shipping: carbon dioxide, sulphur content in fuels, nitrogen oxides, toxic anti-fouling and ballast water.
Carbon dioxide contributes to climate change, high levels of sulphur in marine fuels contribute to acidification, and nitrogen oxides in exhaust gases contribute to acidification as well as eutrophication. Toxic substances in antifouling coatings affect the marine species and the use of ballast water transfers organisms between the world's oceans which may disturb the biodiversity.
These five areas are Wallenius’ highest priority. We have ongoing projects aiming to reduce the environmental impact of our activities.
The formalisation and structure of Wallenius' environmental work started back in 1996 when our customers began to ask us about how our environmental impact was being taken care of. An environmental management system (EMS) was designed and the implementation process started. Two years later Wallenius became the first shipping company in Sweden, and one of the first shipping companies in the world to certify the EMS according to ISO 14001.
Our philosophy is to work with upstream solutions, which means that we tackle the source of the problem and creates a solution before it becomes an issue. For example, we look to reduce the creation of emissions rather than treating them afterwards.
We are determined to be in the forefront of environmental efforts and our ambition is to show others what is possible and how we together can reduce the environmental impact of shipping. We are convinced that maritime emissions can be reduced relatively easily. However, to ensure that shipping can develop into the sustainable means of transport that it has the potential to be, this is naturally dependant on all parties working on these issues.
Read more about our targets
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