The brands, joined by food manufacturer Cermaq, chemical company Covestro Deutschland and engineering firm Lloyd’s Register, have pledged through membership to the UN’s Global Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business to re-evaluate their products, services and business models to negate harmful impacts on ocean ecosystems.
“Tackling the ocean challenge is a global imperative, and the private sector can play a significant role in ensuring this crucial resource is sustainably managed,” the UN said in a statement.
The three-year programme will see the corporates join with the UN, world governments, academics and the general public to develop a business leadership framework focused on the growth, innovation and sustainability of the ocean.
The programme was launched on World Oceans Day, but companies such as Equinor – formerly Statoil – have joined fellow businesses in signing up this week. The platform aims to mobilise the private sector to take tangible action, make investments and form partnerships to ensure the oceans are managed more sustainably.
Nor-Shipping’s director Per Martin Tanggaard, director of Nor-Shipping, dubbed the programme “a vital initiative for a crucial area, while Equinor’s senior vice president for corporate sustainability Bjorn Otto Sverdrup claimed the ocean was the “greatest common resource”.
“Caring for the oceans is part of our DNA,” Sverdrup said. “With our background from Norway, one of the world’s leading ocean economies, we recognize that the ocean is our greatest common resource.
In response to the issue, a string of big-name companies across the retail, hospitality and leisure and food and drink sectors have recently announced plans to phase out single-use plastics in their operations, while others have repurposed ocean plastics for use in their products and packaging.
However, the UN programme is the first of its scale to drive cross-industry collaboration on ocean issues.