Microsoft collaborates with Norden to lower its maritime supply-chain emissions

Danish shipping company Norden announced May 22 that it is working on a pilot project with Microsoft to help reduce its maritime supply-chain emissions by utilizing Norden’s biofuel voyage and book-and-claim solution.

“We are pleased to work with a like-minded partner in Microsoft, sharing our ambition to scale the use of low-carbon fuels to reduce emissions in the maritime industry,” said Anne Jensen, the chief operating officer at Norden. “With the addition of Microsoft to our portfolio of customers, we are demonstrating that Norden can help any company that is dependent on maritime transportation in reducing its supply-chain emissions in the here and now, while we as a carrier overcome the challenges of limited geographic availability of low-carbon fuels.”

With the pilot project, Microsoft is expected to reduce its maritime scope 3 emissions by nearly 10,000 metric tons of CO2e over a three-year period.

“This project with Norden, together with our pilot with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, will further develop the important registry infrastructure required to help Microsoft lower our maritime supply-chain emissions in a transparent and credible way, while fostering the growth of sustainable maritime fuels,” said Julia Fidler, Microsoft’s environmental sustainability, fuel and material decarbonization lead.

Norden and Microsoft will engage with RSB to pilot updates to its globally recognized book-and-claim system, ensuring it supports credible tracking of sustainable maritime-fuel claims.

Norden’s book-and-claim solution enables companies that are relying on maritime transportation to take advantage of emissions reductions from low-carbon fuels, regardless of geographical fuel availability.

Furthermore, with a book-and-claim system, it is possible for companies like Microsoft to reduce maritime emissions, even if not directly partnered with a specific shipping company.

In this pilot project, Norden used certified waste-based biofuel over several voyages, offering an 80 percent to 90 percent lifecycle-emissions reduction compared to traditional fossil fuels.

Norden then transferred the emissions reductions to Microsoft via its book-and-claim solution, providing full transparency on the transferred reductions.

The pilot project underwent a double audit by independent verifiers and follows a framework developed by the Smart Freight Centre, ensuring full traceability and credibility.