Costa Cruises Releases New Sustainability Report

How often have you heard the phrase “Going Green” or something similar? From reducing plastic waste to fuel-efficient and hybrid vehicles, everywhere you look people are trying to help out a planet riddled with pollution.

The cruise industry is no different. 

For the past few years, cruise lines have made a concerted effort to reduce their carbon footprint and help keep our oceans and coastlines pristine for future generations. Costa Cruises is one such cruise line. The company released their 14th annual sustainability report, entitled “Building the Future Together”, and it’s clear they’re well on their way towards decarbonization and emission reduction.

Costa Cruises’ Sustainability Strategy

For Costa Cruises, the goal when it comes to sustainability is the reduction of environmental impact and continued investments in responsible technology, value creation for local communities, and promotion of responsible models for cruising.

The new report also highlights the cruise line’s efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of its impacts and, on the other, implement concrete solutions in order to create value for all its stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers and local communities.

“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. We want to continue to guide the transformation of our Company and our industry in the coming years, working closely and transparently with all our stakeholders”.

The delivery of Costa Smeralda in 2019, the cruise line’s flagship, and the first ship in the Costa fleet to be powered by LNG, marked a big step towards emission reduction and will soon be followed sister ship Costa Toscana with the same brand new eco-friendly technology. 

Costa Group is currently looking into new sustainable alternative technologies aimed at all aspects of a cruise vacation. Tests are being carried out on the use of shore power when ships are docked, in synergy with ports and the Company looks for private-public partnerships to build the infrastructure needed to support the system, as 50% of Costa’s fleet will be ready to use shore power by the end of 2020.

The goal is to reduce waste everywhere possible; from food, to water, and to energy. In fact, Costa has already reduced food waste by 50% by 2020, 10 years ahead of the UN 2030 Agenda, while promoting responsible consumption on board.

What areas of cruising would you like to see go green? Let us know in the comments below!