BC Ferries celebrates world oceans day with five years of green marine certification
For the fifth year in a row, BC Ferries has received Green Marine certification. The achievement comes ahead of World Oceans Day on June 8, BC Ferries says in a press release.
Green Marine is a voluntary environmental certification program for ship owners, port authorities, terminal operators, seaway corporations and shipyards that aims to reduce the environmental footprint of marine operators by promoting a culture of continuous improvement and exceeding regulatory compliance.
“BC Ferries operates in some of the most pristine waters in the world. We are proud to receive this certification for the fifth consecutive year, recognizing our commitment to improving the environmental sustainability of our operations, from ship to shore,” said Mark Collins, BC Ferries’ President and CEO.
To receive Green Marine certification, participants must benchmark their annual environmental performance through the program’s self-evaluation guides, have their results verified by an accredited external verifier, and agree to publication of their annual results. BC Ferries’ terminals, vessels and shipyard exceed industry standard in a number of areas, including underwater noise, greenhouse gases, spill prevention and environmental leadership.
Of the 133 Green Marine participants, BC Ferries is one of only three to certify three types of activities: vessels, terminals and shipyard. Since joining in 2014, BC Ferries has demonstrated leadership, innovation and collaboration. The Company co-developed the Whales in our Waters tutorial with Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Ocean Wise and committed to adopting new technology that lowers emissions, such as operating five ships on natural gas. This year, BC Ferries outperformed comparable participants in addressing underwater-radiated noise issues, exceeding industry standard in the first year of participant-wide reporting. Environmental stewardship is a cornerstone of BC Ferries’ Corporate Social Responsibility program, SeaForward.
“Including all their activities in the program clearly reflects a strong commitment from BC Ferries towards the greening of their operations. It also significantly helps us achieve our objective, which is to advance environmental excellence for the marine industry in general,” said David Bolduc, Green Marine’s Executive Director.
“Green Marine challenges participating organizations to improve their environmental performance beyond regulatory compliance,” said Collins. “We are proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to doing even more to reduce our environmental footprint in the coming years.”
The Green Marine program began in 2007. Green Marine’s annual performance report highlighting participants 2018 results were released this morning, June 6, at the annual Green Marine GreenTech Environmental Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.
