CMA CGM creates a USD 1.5 billion Fund for Energies to accelerate the energy transition in shipping and logistics

The CMA CGM Group announced today that it is creating a Fund for Energies, backed by a five-year, USD 1.5 billion budget, to accelerate its energy transition and achieve net-zero carbon by 2050.

The Fund will invest to support the industrial production of new fuels, as well as low-emission mobility solutions across the Group’s business base (maritime, overland and air freight shipping; port and logistics services; offices). It will help to support a global innovation platform developed alongside large corporations, SMEs, start-ups, and the academic and scientific community.

Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, said: "The CMA CGM Group has been acting to protect the environment for many years. It is at the heart of my convictions and of our strategy. However, in the face of the climate emergency it is our duty to do more and accelerate our actions. This fund will enable us to make substantial investments in innovative projects to decarbonize our business. We have allocated the resources needed to accelerate our energy transition and that of the entire shipping and logistics industry.”

The Special Fund for Energies will invest in innovative projects to secure the supply of renewable energies and explore new solutions and prototypes to meet the ambitious decarbonization targets being pursued across the CMA CGM organization.  

First focus: Supporting the development and production of renewable fuels 

The CMA CGM Group has already begun to respond to climate change by using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a transitional maritime fuel.

The Fund has been tasked with (a) driving forward the emergence of industrial-scale production facilities for biofuels, biomethane, e-methane, carbon-free methanol, and other alternative fuels, and (b) increasing and securing volumes in line with Group needs, in partnership with other major industrial groups with expertise in these technologies, or with investment funds or promising start-ups.

Second focus: Accelerating the decarbonization of port terminals, warehouses and truck fleets  

The CMA CGM Group operates more than 700 warehouses and around 50 port terminals worldwide. It is committed to enabling these facilities to generate enough carbon-free electricity (wind, solar, biomass-fueled, hydrogen-fueled) to become energy self-sufficient.

Third focus: Supporting, trialing and launching projects at the cutting edge of innovation

CMA CGM has long been involved in supporting the development of projects, prototypes and trials.

The CMA CGM Group’s R&D team will continue to optimize the design and propulsion of large container ships to reduce their fuel use, while developing increasingly effective solutions to help make maritime, overland and air freight shipping more energy efficient.

Fourth focus: Pursuing energy savings and improving the energy efficiency of CMA CGM employee working methods and daily mobility 

This fourth pillar pursues three main objectives:

• A dedicated energy management plan for the Group’s office real estate portfolio will help reduce consumption through investments in insulation, smart building systems and energy renovation, while diversifying the energy mix with solutions such as solar panels, seawater loops and urban wind power.
• The Group will also encourage and incentivize employees to use soft mobility options for their daily commutes and business travel, while improving remote working tools to limit certain journeys.
• Finally, it will engage the Group’s 150,000 employees in a comprehensive environmental approach that promotes innovative initiatives focused on environmental preservation and energy efficiency.

In France, this sobriety and efficiency pillar is expected to enable the CMA CGM Group to achieve 10% energy savings during the winter of 2022–2023.

The fund will be backed by a €1.5 billion budget and a dedicated operational team from October 2022, bringing together top talent, including engineers, energy specialists, financial analysts and project managers.

This fund will serve as a cross-functional structure covering all of the Group’s activities and divisions. It will steer the company’s overall strategy towards the development of low-carbon energy solutions and accelerate their deployment.

The CMA CGM Group has always considered its economic performance to be inseparable from its social and environmental performance. Its ambition is to be a leader in the decarbonization of the shipping and logistics industry by pioneering innovative and environmentally responsible technologies.

To achieve this, the Group draws on an ecosystem of startups, R&D projects, and the most innovative players and tools across the market.

Through the Group’s commitment, the objective is to give project developers and industrial partners both the visibility they need, through the Group’s demand for these decarbonized energy sources, and the financial resources they require, through the fund’s investments, so that these solutions can be made available to everyone as quickly as possible.