ood news on greenhouse gas emissions. The United States has continued to decrease its output of carbon dioxide (CO2), never again rising above the 2007 peak. From 6 billion tons per year, the country is down to about 5 billion tons, despite an increased population and higher economic productivity. Per capita emissions, otherwise known as an individual’s carbon footprint, have likewise declined.

The silver lining doesn’t change the fact that the very thin cloud of CO2 in the atmosphere still traps more heat than in pre-industrial times, warming the global climate. In Alaska, the US Environmental Protection Agency reports that, over the past sixty years, most of the state has warmed 3°F on average and 6°F during winter.

Alaskans live a carbon-intensive lifestyle. According to data from the US Energy Information Administration and US Census Bureau, Alaska’s per capita emissions of 47.6 tons of CO2 per year were the fourth highest among the states in 2022. (Wyoming and North Dakota, with similarly small populations, likewise have high emissions per person.) Alaska’s per capita emissions are three times the US average.

While the industrial sector in Alaska contributes the largest share of CO2 emissions, transportation activity is the largest contributor nationwide. Many companies are embracing the idea of reducing carbon emissions, including those in the transportation industry.

Transportation is one of the hardest economic sectors to decarbonize, given the unbeatable convenience and energy density of fossil fuels.

Conscious of this challenge, shipping companies are confronting it head on. For instance, Matson is actively trying to lower emissions from its operations in Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor.

“Our vessels navigate some of the most pristine and environmentally sensitive areas in the Pacific, including Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, all along the US West Coast, and around islands in the South Pacific,” says Vic Angoco, senior vice president, Alaska. “Matson is committed to protecting these areas by operating in an environmentally responsible manner.”

Fellow shipper TOTE Maritime Alaska shares that commitment. Art Dahlin, vice president and Alaska general manager, says TOTE Maritime Alaska has always looked at investments that will improve its service to the market, ever since the company’s first ships were custom-built for the Alaska trade fifty years ago.

“Innovation and a forward-thinking approach are really ingrained in our culture and our foundation at TOTE, and that commitment naturally extends to how we fuel our vessels and operate at our ports,” says Dahlin.

In 2010, TOTE Maritime Alaska invested $2.7 million in a shore power project, enabling its vessels docked in Tacoma, Washington to use electricity from the local grid instead of onboard diesel generators. This initiative reduces diesel and greenhouse gas emissions by 2,600 tons annually—the equivalent of removing more than 550 cars from the road each year.

Matson also uses shore power in certain ports and is collaborating with the World Shipping Council, Smart Freight Centre’s Clean Cargo group, Blue Sky Maritime Coalition, the Chamber of Shipping of America, and SEA-LNG to advance new technologies and low-carbon fuel availability.

According to Matson’s sustainability web page, its goals and climate transition plan are aligned with the International Maritime Organization’s efforts to support United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 and the 2015 Paris Agreement through industrywide climate goals. The company has set an interim goal to achieve a 40 percent reduction in Scope 1 fleet emissions by 2030, measured against a 2016 baseline, and a longer-term goal to achieve net-zero Scope 1 fleet emissions by 2050.

Scope 1 refers to direct combustion of fuels. Scope 2 is mainly purchased energy, counting the emissions of the local power utility. And Scope 3 is emissions across the value chain that an organization doesn’t directly control, like contracted transporters that cart Matson containers on the last mile of a journey.

To date, Matson reports good progress; in 2023 (the latest annual information available) it announced that it had achieved a 19 percent decrease in Scope 1 fleet emissions since 2016.

“Matson is investing in technology and efficiency upgrades, fleet modernization, building new state-of-the-art vessels, and adopting a longer-term fuel efficiency strategy to meet our 2030 and 2025 climate goals,” says Angoco. “We are also working with industry partners to advance lower carbon fuel solutions.”

Part of Matson’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions include investment in vessels powered not by syrupy bunker fuel but by liquified natural gas (LNG). According to National Grid, an energy transition company, LNG produces 40 percent less CO2 than coal and 30 percent less than oil, which makes it the cleanest of the fossil fuels. Beyond climate-warming CO2, LNG emits significantly less soot, dust, or particulates compared to coal and oil and produces insignificant amounts of sulfur dioxide, mercury, and other compounds considered harmful to the earth’s atmosphere.

Matson’s Aloha-class vessels are not only the largest freighters ever built in the United States but were designed with dual-fuel systems. The first of the class, Daniel K. Inouye, entered service in 2019, but by 2023 the company converted it to LNG only. Sister ships Manukai and Kaimana Hila underwent LNG conversions as well. Matson has made a $1 billion investment in three more, with the next due to join the fleet next year.

In 2023, TOTE converted its Alaska ships to run on dual-fuel LNG, which was the first conversion of its scale in North America.

“Using LNG as a maritime fuel significantly cuts down on emissions like sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides and greatly reduces carbon dioxide emissions,” says Dahlin. “As part of the TOTE Group organization, we were the first US shipping company to convert our entire fleet to LNG power, collectively investing more than $500 million in assets, infrastructure, and technology to improve the air we breathe and protect the waters we sail.”

TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico’s Isla Bella was the world’s first LNG-powered container ship and was put into service in 2015. The Orca-class vessels that serve Alaska were fully converted to run on LNG in 2023, but the project spanned more than ten years to minimize impact to the market. Dahlin notes that overall, a huge scope of the work was done while the ships were still in service, ensuring that Alaskans could get the goods they needed while the project was underway.

While LNG has a future in maritime shipping, it doesn’t work as aviation fuel, so air cargo needs other solutions. FedEx, which operates the world’s largest air cargo fleet, announced an ambitious goal in 2021 to achieve carbon-neutral operations globally by 2040. To help reach this goal, the company designated more than $2 billion of initial investment in three key areas: vehicle electrification, sustainable energy, and carbon sequestration.

Ground transport is the lowest hurdle. Approximately 50 percent of FedEx Express global pickup and delivery vehicle purchases will be electric in 2025, rising to 100 percent of all purchases by 2030. According to its website, by 2040, the entire FedEx parcel pickup and delivery fleet will be made up of zero-emission electric vehicles. The conversion will trade Scope 1 tailpipe emissions for Scope 2 power plant emissions.

For aircraft, FedEx is continuing to build on its FedEx Fuel Sense initiatives, which were designed to reduce fuel consumption in its aircraft. Since 2012, the FedEx Fuel Sense and Aircraft Modernization programs have saved a combined 1.43 billion gallons of jet fuel and avoided more than 13.5 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.

For Scope 3 emissions, FedEx is working with customers to offer end-to-end sustainability for supply chains through carbon-neutral shipping offerings and sustainable packaging solutions. The company is also making more than 5,000 of its facilities worldwide more sustainable through continued investments in efficient facilities, renewable energy, and other energy management programs.

Since 2009, FedEx says its efforts have contributed to an approximately 40 percent reduction in CO2 emissions intensity across the enterprise, even though package volume nearly doubled during that period.

For emissions that can’t be choked off at the source, companies have other ways to balance the ledger. FedEx pledged $100 million to Yale University to help establish the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture to research natural carbon sequestration solutions with an initial focus on helping to offset greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to current airline emissions.

In its day-to-day business practices, TOTE is a member of Green Marine, a third-party environmental certification program for the maritime industry. It also donates equipment for statewide electronic recycling programs with Cook Inletkeeper and Green Star of Interior Alaska, and TOTE provides more than $1.5 million in in-kind shipping to Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling for southbound shipping of recycled materials.

“We believe in making investments with real, measurable impact,” says Dahlin. “This is part of our commitment to improve our operations, our customer experience, and to promote the safety and health of our team and the communities we serve.”