CMS expert insight to sustainable ship finance

As sustainability keeps being the subject of increased regulatory initiatives, so will it increasingly become a focal point in the agenda of public and private actors throughout sectors in the economic arena. Across the board, a lot of private and legislative initiatives already touch upon topics of sustainability.

Such initiatives have often dealt with sustainability in a rather fragmented and pluriform manner for a variety of reasons (such as focus on a specific social and economic sector, focus on a specific region or country, or the lack of uniform concepts of "sustainability"). Recently however, as part of the European Green Deal general (pan-European) regulations have been adopted and proposed to create a common reference framework for the classification of sustainable activities (the EU Taxonomy Regulation) and furthering European sustainability goals (proposal for a EU Climate Law), with industry specific regulations and standards to follow.

Financing markets have been looking for ways in which their products can contribute to the worldwide sustainability agenda, giving rise to the concept of sustainable or “green” finance. Examples include the Green Loan Principles and the Sustainability Linked Loan Principles authored by the APMLA, LMA and LSTA and the various certification schemes by the Climate Bond Initiative. This current contribution will explore some aspects of sustainable finance in shipping.