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Our ambition

 

Enabling smarter, cleaner global trade - that’s our purpose as a company. And we’re committed to working with our stakeholders to create the long-term sustainable changes needed to make it happen. Together, we’re embedding new ways of thinking and working as the norm to ensure a brighter future for all. For more than 170 years, Clarksons has facilitated global trade but now our role is to go further and enable positive change. As the world’s largest integrated shipping service provider, we’re embracing the opportunity for us to have a significant and meaningful impact on the direction and pace with which the maritime industry moves forward, and play our part in creating a better, fairer, more sustainable world.

How we're going to get there

 

We understand the immense environmental and societal challenges that are facing the world. And we know there are no quick fixes. But that cannot deter us from taking action. Clarksons is committed to making progress today to ensure we are positively contributing towards a better tomorrow.

As a responsible business that is dedicated to becoming more sustainable, we are challenging the status quo through innovation and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. In practical terms, this means taking a holistic approach and embedding sustainability in our day-to-day thinking at every level.

Our commitment encompasses both the micro and macro. We are working towards embedding sustainable procurement practices and training - opting for energy-efficient alternatives over standard products and seeking out organic, fair-trade, recycled and/or biodegradable items where possible. And we’re ensuring our market-leading research contributes to the greater good - sharing our intelligence with governments, trade bodies, regulators and other relevant stakeholders to offer insight that can inform practical, sustainable approaches to current challenges.

We understand the challenge to reduce carbon emissions in shipping is one that we must tackle together as an industry. As such, we have introduced our dedicated Green Transition team to help clients keep pace with evolving environmental regulations, from forthcoming updates and timings to mandatory policies and frameworks. Working in close collaboration, we define and develop a tailored decarbonisation strategy that is aligned with the client’s wider business values and sustainability targets. We first use our expertise and market intelligence to develop this from an operational and value creation perspective, then utilise our full-service offering to ensure optimal execution.

Our approach to reporting

 

As an industry-leader, we see it as our responsibility to hold ourselves accountable for becoming a more sustainable business. We believe that our reporting should serve and inform the full breadth of our stakeholder groups and so we regularly produce and publish a number of reports and complete accreditations and assessments, including:

Gender Pay Gap Report

Published annually, this report sets out differences in mean and median pay between all male and female employees, differences in mean and median bonus pay between all male and female employees, the proportion of men and women receiving a bonus, and the distribution of men and women between pay band quartile. 

Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 Emissions

Clarksons has been measuring its Scope 1, Scope 2 and some limited Scope 3 emissions since 2013 as required by the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic and Directors’ Reports) Regulations 2013 and more recently the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018. You can read more about our reporting here.

TCFD Reporting Framework

This is our first year of reporting in line with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations. We have set out how we comply with each of the recommendations in our Annual Report 2021, along with explanations in relation to the recommendations under the Targets and Metrics pillar. Our approach to the governance and risk management pillars of TCFD is integrated into our wider processes. You can read more our approach here.

Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

In line with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, we publish an annual Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement on our website. We remain committed to building and strengthening our existing policies and practices to eliminate modern slavery and human rights violations in our supply chain. We therefore  continue to review the effectiveness of our current arrangements and, where necessary, implement additional safeguards and procedures. You can view our statement here.

EcoVadis Sustainability Rating

This sustainability assessment requires us to provide evidence of having implemented a structured sustainability management system. The assessment focuses on various policies, implemented measures, certifications and key performance indicators (KPIs). Our recent EcoVadis assessment placed Clarksons in the top 15% of our sector. We were awarded the EcoVadis Silver Medal after being rated against 21 CSR criteria across four themes: Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Fair Business Practices and Sustainable Procurement. This certification asserts our dedication to building a better future. For our clients, our stakeholders and the world. Today, tomorrow and beyond.

Partnerships

 

Our commitment to becoming a more sustainable business demands we take action. That’s why we’re proactively putting into place the partnerships, systems and structures that will see Clarksons grow as an industry leader for sustainable practices. So that we continue to play our part in creating a greener, cleaner, fairer world for all.

We understand that we can go further, faster when working together with others. That’s why we’re fostering a number of strategic partnerships and memberships to support our forward-thinking sustainability goals. For example, we’re challenging the gender balance within shipping through our established partnership with the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA). Together, we’re hosting events and developing recruitment initiatives to improve representation – not just within Clarksons, but the shipping industry as a whole.

The wayfinding spirit which founded Clarksons is still with us today. And it’s this strong future-focus which drives our partnerships. We’re working with maritime associations, such as Maritime UK and BIMCO, and leading universities and business schools to support, inspire and connect the next generation of shipping professionals. We’re helping frame debate and policy decisions by providing data and intelligence to inter-governmental organisations, governments, regulators and various industry and trade bodies. And we’re also integrating with other leading technology providers to provide comprehensive and robust decision-making tools through our Sea/ platform.