2010 Mar 12

The benefit of sustainability

AP Moller-Maersk released its first sustainability report with its annual figures last week. Maersk is not the first shipping company to attempt to quantify its efforts in the whole basket of activities that fall under the rubric of sustainability.

Japan’s NYK has made tremendous strides in sustainability reporting over the years. Taiwan’s Evergreen is also known for its efforts.

But Maersk’s entry is something of a milestone and bellwether. The report itself is over 100 pages long and features a standardised report card for each of Maersk’s 18 businesses, including Maersk Line, the world’s largest container company.

The size of Maersk’s effort signals that no major shipping company can ignore this type of reporting and must come to terms with it.

It is worth trying to characterise sustainability — an unfortunate term with many hazy definitions. The best we saw postulated the following: “Sustainability seeks to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments now and into the indefinite future.”

Vague though that is, it can be understood as an umbrella under which a number of key activities can be organised and pushed forward. These would include environmental performance, safety, community interaction, charitable works, anti-corruption initiatives, labour relations and workplace satisfaction, among others.

Some question whether companies should bother with this at all. In modern corporate theory, the shareholder deserves the company’s primary attention, and building value for the shareholder is the paramount mission.

Maersk has quietly integrated its sustainability approach into its business since early in the last decade, eventually centralising sustainability as a group team and applying the discipline to all businesses.

We do not know for sure, but we would wager that shareholders benefit from these activities over time.

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