SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Sea-LNG, lobbyist for producers and users of liquefied natural gas, took aim at Maersk according to Shipping Watch. Sea-LNG wrongly argues that fossil LNG is necessary as a transition fuel as the shipping industry moves towards the green transition.

The following is a statement by Madeline Rose, Pacific Environment’s Climate Campaign Director:

“By rejecting fossil gas in shipping’s clean energy transition, Maersk and Soren Skou again demonstrate that they are the hard-headed realists in shipping. They recognize the chaos and harm global warming is causing today and the existential threat it poses to civilization.

We don’t have time to take the relaxed, gradualist, head-in-the-sand approach that fossil fuel companies urge us to accept. SEA-LNG is a fossil fuel lobby, plain and simple: their principle objective is opening and protecting markets for fossil gas. Shipping companies, ports, and stakeholders should view them as nothing else.”

The following is a statement by Kendra Ulrich, Stand.earth’s Shipping Campaigns Director:

“The fossil fuel lobby has been clinging to LNG as its life float for years, but no amount of rhetoric will change the reality this industry is sinking. Analysis has shown that the use of LNG as a maritime fuel increases climate-disrupting emissions by a staggering 70-82% as compared to business-as-usual. With the shipping sector already one of the worst global climate polluters, now is not time for a massive step backward by investing in fossil gas.

Companies like Maersk are recognizing that we must move boldly and deliberately into the fossil-free future across all sectors, including international shipping. We applaud them for their leadership. Ending the of burning dirty fossil fuels is the prerequisite for achieving our climate goals.”

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Contacts: Gwen Dobbs, Pacific Environment, [email protected], + 1 202-329-9295 (Eastern time)

Virginia Cleaveland, Communications Manager, [email protected], +1 510 858 9902 (Pacific Time)

About Ship It Zero

Led by environmental organizations Pacific Environment and Stand.earth, the Ship It Zero campaign is calling on some of the world’s largest retail companies — including IKEA, Amazon, Target, and Walmart — to transition to 100% zero-emissions cargo shipping vessels by 2030. As one of the leading contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, international maritime shipping must rapidly decarbonize if the world is to keep global warming at or under the 1.5 degrees Celsius target that scientists say is needed to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis. Abandoning fossil-fueled ships immediately would also improve public health for port communities, who experience high rates of asthma, cancer, and premature death due to ship exhaust and port pollution.