Sustainability has often been decoupled from profitability, limiting its role in the maritime and logistics sector. However, the growing need to combat climate change and social inequalities is bringing this issue to the forefront.

Greater cross-sector collaboration and standardization of key sustainability indicators is required to maximize efforts.

In this regard, many companies in the maritime sector are integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promoted by the United Nations (UN) within their policies, somewhat changing the traditional belief that sustainability and profit are mutually exclusive.

Among the SDGs that are already being implemented in this sector we can include affordable and clean energy, innovation and infrastructure, climate action, which requires companies to take effective and efficient actions to combat it and marine life, in this sense, it is important to highlight that it is not only necessary to take care of the land but also of the oceans for the promotion of sustainable development.

Luis Fuentes, Director of Sustainability for Puerto Ventanas S.A. states that "Sustainability is very beneficial in both the short and long term. We cannot maintain our ecosystem or continue to function without taking more sustainable measures. If we continue to maintain the same harmful processes, we would run out of fossil fuels, many species would become extinct and the atmosphere would suffer irreparable damage".

Another extremely important aspect that recurred in the different presentations was the energy transition.

As the effects of climate change and the El Niño phenomenon become more visible, the need to reduce carbon emissions in the maritime trade becomes more pressing. The sector has a considerable number of decarbonization initiatives around the world.

Experts agree that the approach to the green transition must be cross-cutting at all levels of the shipping industry across all levels of the supply chain.

"Due to the large amount of renewable energy in Latin America, this region is key for the production of new fuels needed for the shipping transition," emphasized Katrina Abhold, project manager of the Global Maritime Fund.

From market-based to regulatory measures, decarbonization action points that aim to accelerate the energy transition should consider global carbon pricing and carbon trading options, new shipbuilding standards, fuel life cycle assessments, the development of green fuel supply, the consolidation of green corridors, and the expansion of green energy use.

TOC Americas 2023 is the perfect platform for the exchange of ideas and where all sectors can work together to make sustainability and decarbonization a common denominator.