The climate crisis is rapidly shifting from an abstract and theoretical future event, to something that we see happening in the flesh. A new report from the IPCC estimates that even if we commit to drastic carbon reduction right now and hit our best-case scenario, we will still breach the biblical 1.5°C global temperature rise by 2040. Couple this with the sobering fact highlighted at the G20 climate conference in June; that over the past 30 years, the rate of reducing CO2 emissions hasn’t improved relative to GDP; declining at a steady -1.8% per year.

The grand total of unilateral agreements, corporate pledges, cultural awareness, government policies and new technologies have made little difference to the rate at which we are polluting our atmosphere with greenhouse gases. Estimates are that companies need to average a 10% GHG reduction per year until we hit net zero in order to avoid the worst case scenarios. Industries differ greatly in their efforts and progress but one industry, passenger, freight & cargo shipping, has been called out as both a rising emitter and a climate change laggard.

At 9fin, we cover 18 European transport shipping companies that have offered 80 bonds and loans since 2009, making it a significant segment of the LevFin universe. In the past year, we’ve seen an uptake in sustainability-linked bonds and loans.