CHEVRON Shipping Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of oil and gas major Chevron Corporation has signed up to the Sea Cargo Charter.

The charter is a benchmark initiative for responsible shipping activities, transparent greenhouse gas reporting, and improved decision making in line with United Nations decarbonisation targets.

Chevron Shipping’s fleet has provided a link between its global operations and the marketplace for more than 125 years. Today, the company transports crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and refined products.

Chevron has been operating in Australia since 1952 when it entered Western Australia through the purchase of Caltex. A year later, oil was discovered at Rough Range – Australia’s first commercial well. More recently, Chevron has brought online two LNG facilities: Gorgon and Wheatstone.

The development of the Sea Cargo Charter has been led by global shippers – Anglo American, Cargill Ocean Transportation, Dow, Norden, TotalEnergies, Trafigura, Euronav, Gorrissen Federspiel and Stena Bulk.

The charter establishes a common baseline to quantitatively assess and disclose whether shipping activities are aligned with adopted climate goals, consistent with the policies and ambitions adopted by the International Maritime Organization. This includes its ambition for greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping to peak as soon as possible and to reduce shipping’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% of 2008 levels by 2050.

Mark Ross, president of Chevron Shipping Company said, “We are excited to join and partner with Sea Cargo Charter to enhance the transparency and accuracy of reporting which will promote responsible environmental performance”.

Jan Dieleman, chair of the Sea Cargo Charter Association and president of Cargill’s ocean transportation business said, “We are very pleased to welcome Chevron in the Sea Cargo Charter. As a large multinational corporation and an oil major, we look forward to their contribution to our shared goal.

“It is a real pleasure to see another industry leader joining the Charter thus committing to our objective to decarbonise shipping,” he said.

The Sea Cargo Charter is intended to evolve over time as the IMO adjusts its policies and regulations to the changing environmental landscape.

There are 27 signatories to the sea Cargo Charter including Maersk Tankers and NYK Bulkship (Atlantic) NV.