About
Aiming to promote decarbonisation of international shipping, the principles focus on assessment and disclosure of the climate alignment of ship finance portfolios, and consist of four principles committing the signatories to:
- Assessment: assess their climate alignment in accordance with a methodology outlined in a technical guidance;
- Accountability: rely on classification societies (IMO recognised organisations) for the provision of information, as well as mandatory regulations for data collection from ships for reporting on the signatories climate alignment;
- Enforcement: require that ongoing compliance with the Poseidon Principles is made contractual for the signatories' new shipping business activities through a covenant clause or binding agreement; and
- Transparency: publish the results of the signatories' climate alignment score in the Annual Disclosure Report and the signatories' own corporate reports annually.
Who does it impact?
All signatories.
All borrowers seeking financing from the signatories relating to vessels under the scope of IMO rules (i.e. vessels 5,000 GT and above engaged in international trade).
The scope of financial products falling under the principles may be reviewed and expanded by the signatories on a timeline at their discretion.
Status: Launched
Launched in New York in June 2019.
Relation to other initiatives and regulations
The drafting of the Poseidon Principles was led under auspices of the Global Maritime Forum.
The UN Global Compact Sustainable Ocean Principles guidance on shipping/finance is expected to incorporate the Poseidon Principles.
The Poseidon Principles ensure consistency with the policies and regulations of the IMO and the IMO Data Collection System on fuel consumption and associated guidelines.
Participants
Several Norwegian banks are among the signatories.
Thommessen's comments
The Poseidon Principles constitute a framework for financial institutions to monitor and report on greenhouse gas emissions. Borrowers are not required to sign the Poseidon Principles themselves, but will be met with reporting covenants to ensure that the financial institutions that are signatories to the Poseidon Principles can comply.
As the Poseidon Principles are based on the same reporting requirements as ship-owners have to comply with under MARPOL Annex VI (IMO's Data Collection System) the reporting covenant is not intended to be burdensome for the borrowers.
There is a standard covenant clause which may be inserted into relevant vessel financing documents. The standard covenant clause is considered market practice.
On 22 September 2022, it was announced that the Poseidon Principles will add an additional trajectory. Signatories will benchmark their portfolios against two trajectories: one aligned with the IMO's 50% reduction by 2050 trajectory, and one aligned with net-zero by 2050 and a maximum temperature rise of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 trajectory, to meet the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. For the second trajectory to be consistent with a 1.5C future, the scope was expanded to include all greenhouse gas species, and to account for well-to-wake emissions.