Bunker Holding launches carbon-insetting capability

Leading global supplier of marine fuel Bunker Holding announced May 16 that, in a new partnership with carbon-insetting experts 123Carbon and Bureau Veritas, the company has concluded its first blockchain-powered carbon-insetting operation.

This insetting partnership allows for the additional cost delivery of lower-carbon alternative marine fuels, such as sustainable biofuel, to be shared by carriers, freight forwarders and cargo owners within the same value chain, with allocation based on a globally accepted book-and-claim methodology.

“We’re excited to work with 123Carbon and Bureau Veritas, as we believe in complete transparency of how insets are created and transferred,” said Tobias Troye, the head of carbon solutions at Bunker Holding.

“Insetting is not new, but one concern within the maritime sector is under what circumstances alternative fuels are supplied, and who owns the emissions reductions,” Troye added.

By combining its alternative-fuel supply expertise, its global access to low-carbon fuels and extensive carrier network with 123Carbon’s secure platform, Bunker Holding can offer carriers, freight forwarders and cargo owners complete transparency and assurance regarding how their insets reduce maritime emissions.

“We are delighted that Bunker Holding not only uses our advanced platform for the issuance of the certificates, but has also chosen a fully branded solution to deliver the certificates in a secure environment to its customers,” said Jeroen van Heiningen, the managing director of 123Carbon.

Working with 123Carbon’s blockchain-based insetting platform and Bureau Veritas as its third-party assurance partner to verify the fuel intervention and all related documentation ensures that all insets are issued according to Smart Freight Centre’s book-and-claim methodology and 123Carbon’s assurance protocol.

To facilitate the intervention, Bunker Holding connected three different parties: the cargo owner, who wishes to reduce its scope 3 emissions and is willing to pay the “green premium;” the ship operator to decarbonize its vessels through the use of biofuels; and the biofuel supplier to deliver safe, high-quality low-carbon fuels.

Due to the commitment from the cargo owner to purchase scope 3 insets, Bunker Holding was able to offer the biofuel at a more competitive cost to the ship operator, enabling the carrier to use biofuels instead of conventional fossil fuels.

“As a group, we are operationalizing our decarbonization strategy, and one key component has been to develop our alternative marine fuel supply capabilities, among others by securing fully certified biofuel availability in more than 100 ports around the world,” said Valerie Ahrens, Bunker Holding’s senior director of new fuels and carbon markets.

“The relative higher cost of alternative fuels may still prevent carriers to bunker it,” Ahrens added. “However, carbon insetting helps bridge that gap as it enables cost sharing and also sends an important demand signal to alternative-fuel producers to scale up production.”