“It’s for real” – Environmental Sustainability as a business imperative

“The time for the code is now, because it’s needed now” IMCA CEO, Allen Leatt tells Greg. It’s a matter of fact. Earlier this month, the sobering findings of the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report confirmed that climate change is rapidly intensifying, with some trends now deemed irreversible. There is no question that adopting environmentally sustainable practices offshore can contribute to reversing the negative effects we are bearing witness to, and IMCA is calling on the industry to step up to the mark.

The first of its kind for the industry, the Recommended Code of Practice for Environmental sustainability was developed by its members through IMCA’s committee governance structure and sets expectations for the marine contracting industry in managing key environmental and climate topics associated with offshore marine construction. In this video interview Nadine Robinson, Technical Adviser for Environmental Sustainability at IMCA, reiterates that the code “is no longer a nice to have” but “something that is actually fundamental to our industry’s value creation.” The voluntary code applies to all companies in the Maritime industry at any stage of the sustainability journey and takes a multifaceted approach in addressing key issues related to environmental sustainability.

Earlier this month, IMCA’s Environmental Sustainability Committee hosted a virtual seminar on environmental sustainability that explored key topics from IMCA’s Recommended Code of Practice on Environmental Sustainability (the Code). Speakers were drawn from across the membership as well as from the Basque Centre for Climate Change, the Global Maritime Forum, VARD Engineering, KPMG Netherlands, the United Nations Global Compact and Duke University. When asked, the majority of the attendees agreed that their company saw Environmental Sustainability as an absolute top priority and core business, underpinning the value of the code and the need for guidance in this area.

Putting the guidance into concerted action, on the back of its launch, a self-assessment tool is under development to help members measure their progress against the Code and obtain a sense of how they compare relative to their peers. Further guidance will be published over time. Putting into perspective the importance of environmental sustainability as a business imperative today, Allen Leatt argues that the industry is serious about sustainability: “We feel this is for real, and it’s quickly becoming established as a business imperative for a variety of practical business reasons – Today, environment is a new business drive, and our members are telling us that their clients are increasingly using environmental performance measures in their evaluation of the supply chain at bidding stage. So this is a highly relevant business today.”

Watch the full interview with IMCA and the Maritime Reporter and Engineering News below. Want to know more? Why not read Nadine’s published article from September’s issue of World Pipelines below.