Green Marine is an environmental certification program for the North American marine industry. 

It is a voluntary, transparent and inclusive initiative that addresses key environmental issues through its 12 performance indicators. Participants are ship owners, ports, terminals, Seaway corporations and shipyards in Canada and the United States.

The program encourages participants to implement concrete and measurable actions to reduce their environmental footprint.

To receive their certification, participants must benchmark their annual environmental performance through the program’s self-evaluation guides, have their results verified by an accredited external verifier and agree to publication of their individual results. Participants also commit to continuously reduce their environmental footprint.

 

 

 

Performance indicators :

For ship owners :

• Aquatic invasive species
• Garbage management
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Oily water
• Pollutant air emissions – NOx
• Pollutant air emissions – SOx and PM
• Underwater noise

For ports and the Seaway:

• Aquatic invasive species (port authorities only)
• Community impacts
• Dry bulk handling and storage
• Environmental leadership
• Greenhouse gases and air pollutants
• Spill prevention
• Underwater noise
• Waste management

For terminals and shipyards:

• Community impacts
• Dry bulk handling and storage
• Environmental leadership
• Greenhouse gases and air pollutants
• Spill prevention
• Waste management

Continual improvement:

For each applicable indicator, the environmental performance is evaluated on a scale from 1 to 5 according to criteria that are specific to each level. Level 1 requires monitoring of regulations, while level 5 stands for excellence and leadership.

Requirements to be Green Marine certified:

• Annual self-evaluation of the company’s environmental performance by using specific guides
• Third party verificationof results every two years
• Annual publication of individual results
• Continual improvement

Green Marine now counts 136 participants, more than 85 partners, 29 associations and more than 70 supporters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the implementation of the program in 2007, the industry has significantly increased its environmental performance despite a steady membership growth, a stringent regulatory framework and the continuous strengthening of the program requirements. The ultimate goal is to lead the industry towards environmental excellence through continual improvement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Source: Green Marine, 2018 Performance Report)