• A voluntary partnership of leading maritime goods movement stakeholders, including the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Shanghai, some of the largest shipping lines in the world, with input from leading cargo owners, have developed a Green Shipping Corridor Implementation Plan Outline to accelerate emissions reductions on one of the world’s busiest container shipping routes. 
• Plan development was supported by C40 Cities, the global network of mayors working to deliver the urgent action needed to confront the climate crisis. C40 is the facilitator of the Green Shipping Corridor, providing support to the cities, ports and their corridor partners by coordinating, convening, facilitating, and providing communications support in furtherance of the corridor’s goals.
• Carrier partners supporting this plan have set goals to begin deploying reduced or zero lifecycle carbon capable ships on the corridor by 2025. 

The creation of the first-ever green shipping corridor across the Pacific is taking shape. Today, a voluntary partnership of leading maritime goods movement stakeholders, including the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Shanghai, some of the largest carriers in the world, and key leading cargo owners unveiled a Green Shipping Corridor Implementation Plan Outline to accelerate emissions reductions on one of the world’s busiest container shipping routes across the Pacific Ocean. The plan is the first of its kind and was developed with support from C40 Cities as part of its effort to reduce carbon emissions from the largest cities in the world.

The plan is an important step toward decarbonizing the global supply chains that power our economies, and transitioning toward zero lifecycle carbon emission ships. It will showcase cutting-edge goods movement technologies, decarbonization applications and best management practices to enhance efficiency, and catalyze technological, economic and policy efforts to progressively decarbonize shipping and port-related activities.

As part of the historic plan, the carrier partners will begin deploying reduced or zero lifecycle carbon capable ships on the corridor by 2025, and work together to demonstrate by 2030 the feasibility of deploying the world’s first zero lifecycle carbon emission container ship(s). Carrier partners include CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines Co., Ltd., Maersk, and ONE. Core partners include the Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd., the China Classification Society, and the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre of Asia.     

Participants of the Green Shipping Corridor Partnership will take steps to reduce carbon emissions and harmful pollutant emissions impacting air quality, through methods such as expanding use of shore power and supporting the development of clean marine fueling infrastructure. Cargo owner partners have set goals to contract with carriers to use zero lifecycle carbon emission shipping services, and in an effort to measure progress toward decarbonization, all partners will develop metrics to track decarbonization progress. 

Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, said: “This trans-Pacific green corridor will be a model for the global cooperation needed to accelerate change throughout the maritime industry. Reducing emissions in this corridor will yield substantial reductions. For perspective, most of the emissions associated with moving cargo by ship occur in the mid-ocean part of the journey between ports.  This corridor will help reduce mid-ocean emissions while continuing the work we have done to cut emissions within our ports.”

Mario Cordero, Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Long Beach, said: “This initiative will drive emissions reductions across the world’s largest ocean and lead to greener practices from supply chain participants along these vital trade routes. The new and innovative vessel technologies, increased availability of sustainable fuels and better practices created through this green corridor will also impact society’s transition to a cleaner future far beyond the areas served by our ports.”

Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40, said, “C40 is proud to support this first-of-its-kind green shipping corridor aimed at demonstrating that zero-carbon shipping at scale is feasible by 2030, and that less polluting ships and ports will also mean cleaner air, less noise and more jobs for local communities.” 

Read the Green Shipping Corridor Implementation Plan Outline.

Watch a video about the Green Shipping Corridor.

About the Port of Los Angeles

The busiest seaport in the Western Hemisphere, the Port of Los Angeles is North America’s leading trade gateway and has ranked as the number one container port in the United States for 22 consecutive years. In 2021, the Port facilitated $294 billion in trade and handled a total of 10.7 million container units, the busiest calendar year in the Port’s 115-year history. San Pedro Bay port complex operations and commerce facilitate one in nine jobs across the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura.

About the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission

Established in 2004, Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission (SMTC) undertakes the management and safety supervision of the highways and urban roads, road transportation and urban traffic, ports and shipping, and other transportation industries in Shanghai. SMTC also leads the development of Shanghai International Shipping Center. SMTC coordinates the air, rail and postal transportation management. SMTC aims to optimize the layout of the transport structure, comprehensively balance the transport capacity, and build an integrated transportation system in Shanghai.

About the Port of Long Beach

The Port of Long Beach is a global leader in green port initiatives and top-notch customer service, moving cargo with reliability, speed and efficiency. As the premier U.S. gateway for trans-Pacific trade, the Port handles trade valued at $200 billion annually and supports 2.6 million jobs across the United States, including 575,000 in Southern California and 1 in 5 jobs in Long Beach. In 2022, industry leaders named it “The Best West Coast Seaport in North America” for the fourth consecutive year. The Port had its second-busiest year ever in 2022, with 9.13 million twenty-foot equivalent units handled. During the next 10 years, the Port is planning $2.2 billion in capital improvements aimed at enhancing capacity, competitiveness and sustainability. 

About C40 Cities

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities. Through a Global Green New Deal, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labor, business, the youth climate movement and civil society to go further and faster than ever before. 

The current Chair of C40 is Mayor of London Sadiq Khan; and three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the Board. C40’s work is made possible by our three strategic funders: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Realdania.

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit our website, or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Photo caption: Port of Long Beach COO Dr. Noel Hacegaba, eighth from right, and Port of Los Angeles Director of Environmental Management Chris Cannon, sixth from left, join port and C40 officials at the 2023 North Bund Forum in Shanghai to celebrate the unveiling of the Green Shipping Corridor implementation plan. Download a high-resolution photo here.

Corridor Leadership: