The  Poseidon Principles Annual Disclosure Report 2020 was recently released, detailing emissions data collected from clients of 15 of the Principles’ signatory banks, along with portfolio information from 2019. This data was compared to a decarbonization trajectory for the same year. The report is available from the link :-  Poseidon Principles Annual Disclosure Report 2020

Of the 15 banks whose lending patterns were assessed the report concludes that only 3 financial institutions’ ship finance portfolios are aligned with the IMO’s initial GHG strategy while 12 banks’ portfolios are not. The report includes additional commentary from financial institutions on key takeaways from their climate assessment, and reflections on how it will inform their business activities and decision-making in the future.

This publication of this first Poseidon Principles Annual Disclosure Report 2020 takes place in the context of a number of other ‘green finance’ initiatives which have the potential to significantly impact the global shipping industry. This includes, inter alia, the development of financial investment Taxonomy frameworks designed to assess the ‘green’ nature of investments. 

The ongoing development of green finance initiatives at both the national and supranational levels is a crucial step in facilitating global industry transition to decarbonisation and to achieving the IMO’s ambitious 2018 GHG Strategy. However, it is vital that the development of these frameworks (which have the capacity to both increase the cost of and decrease opportunity for securing specialised project finance, in particular ship finance) are calibrated correctly. The ICS continues to monitor the progression of such initiatives.