(TAN): Costa Cruises has published its Sustainability Report 2019, entitled “Building the Future Together” to present the achievements of the company towards sustainable and responsible operations, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda defined by the United Nations to promote responsible development globally.
“The publication of our Sustainability Report 2019 comes at a very special time, in which we have just responsibly and safely restarted our operations after a long pause,” said Group CEO, Costa Group & Carnival Asia Michael Thamm. “The report is an opportunity to showcase our tangible projects and the results achieved in 2019, but also to confirm that now more than ever we renew our commitment towards a sustainable development of our business model.”
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Costa Cruise has achieved a further reduction in CO2 emissions of 8.06% compared to the previous year. This has confirmed Costa’s commitment to attaining a 40% reduction in the fleet’s CO2 emissions by 2020 (some 10 years ahead of the target laid down by the International Maritime Organization). The arrival of the first LNG-fueled ship, Costa Smeralda in 2019, will be soon followed by Costa Toscana in 2021.
It had focused on circular economy projects, such as the short supply chain for the recycling of the glass disposed of on board, which is recycled and returned to the ship in the form of objects that everyone can see and use, namely olive oil bottles in Costa’s restaurants.
100% of waste was sorted into streams, and a substantial reduction in the use of plastic and the phasing out of single-use plastic items entirely, meaning 50 metric tons less waste each year.
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The company had reduced the amount of water wasted during marine operations and gradual increase the proportion produced directly on board, which worked out to 76.29% in 2019 (a 13% year-on-year increase), and campaigns to promote responsible use of water on board, called Stop the Drop to achieve a reduction in per capita consumption on board.
It had focused on the value of food and the promotion of responsible consumption with crew and guests, with the “4GOODFOOD” program and the guest awareness campaign “Taste don’t waste” aimed at ambitious objective of halving food waste on board Costa’ ships by 2020, ten years ahead of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
With its 4,416 port calls (of which 1938 are in the Mediterranean), Costa played a crucial role in promoting local tourism, this positive impact translating into average spending of EUR 74.60 (USD 87.60) per passenger in each European port, with 60% of guests on Costa’s ships saying they intend to return to the cruise destinations.
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Signing of environmental protection agreements such as the ESI (Environmental Ship Index) Implementation Protocol and the Blue Maritime Charter with the port of Marseille, the Genoa Blue Agreement promoted jointly by the Harbor Master’s Offices of Genoa and Savona, and the Blue Flag with the port of La Spezia.
In 2019 the Company provided its workforce with over 1,200,000 hours of training and also further enhanced its employee welfare policies with, for example, incentives for parental leave for both parents and smart working, with a total of 162,000 smart working hours during the year.
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