MIAMI, Jan. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival
Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's
largest leisure travel company, today announced it is a charter
member of the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network (OPLN), a new
global community of retailers, brands, non-governmental
organizations and alliances committed to sharing best practices,
developing scientific breakthroughs and new business models, and
working to develop new approaches, innovations and solutions-based
projects to address the impacts of plastic waste.
As part of the company's implementation of broader environmental
initiatives, Carnival Corporation recently announced a series of
actions being undertaken by each of its nine cruise line brands,
including significantly reducing its purchase and consumption of
non-essential single-use plastics by the end of 2021. The effort to
dramatically reduce single-use plastics across its brands is part
of an expansion of Operation Oceans Alive, the corporation's
program to further its ongoing commitment to achieve and sustain
environmental compliance and excellence. Carnival Corporation and
its brands already have plans under way, including initiatives to
reduce or eliminate plastic straws, cups, lids and bags, among
other single-use items. The brands are also working to potentially
eliminate individual servings of select packaged food items and
other single-use plastics or decorative items used in food and
beverage service as well as in staterooms. Through the ongoing
efforts, the company's brands reduced the procurement of single-use
plastics by 80 million items in 2019 while also reducing 95 million
other single-use items, as compared to 2018.
OPLN officially launched last week with the introduction of its
online community and leadership network available at
OceanPlasticsLeadershipNetwork.com, an online repository of
industry news, tools and research to promote and advance innovative
solutions, projects and ideas from experts and advocates that will
lead to collectively working to reduce plastic waste. The online
network currently includes 50 members committed to collaborative
solutions for plastic waste, including organizations representing
elements of the development, distribution, purchase and retail use
of plastic products.
"Our most important priorities are to operate safely, protect
the environment and to be compliant everywhere we operate in the
world," said Roger Frizzell, chief
communications officer for Carnival Corporation. "Becoming a
charter member of the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network is another
important step in the many environmental compliance efforts that
are under way across the company."
Organized by SoulBuffalo, which curates and produces summits and
expeditions for corporate leaders, NGOs and innovators to develop
solutions for environmental challenges, OPLN builds upon the
company's first-annual Ocean Plastics Leadership Summit held in
May 2019, which convened leading
organizations in the plastics supply chain in one of the five
oceanic gyres – which are large systems of rotating ocean currents
– to experience plastic waste firsthand and to develop ideas and
collaborations to accelerate solutions.
"The Ocean Plastics Leadership Network will provide an amazing
platform for knowledge-sharing, creating amazing firsthand
experiences and working together to achieve real change," said
Dave Ford, CEO of SoulBuffalo and
founder of OPLN. "Companies like Carnival Corporation coming
onboard will be such an integral step to having this organization
be relevant and effective."
In addition to being a charter member of OPLN, Carnival
Corporation recently joined the Getting to Zero Coalition, an
alliance of organizations across the maritime, energy,
infrastructure and finance sectors committed to accelerating the
decarbonization of the international shipping industry. The global
coalition will work toward the maritime industry's goal of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions from shipping through innovation and
advancement, aspiring to having commercially viable zero emission
deep sea vessels (ZEVs) entering the global shipping fleet as early
as 2030. The alliance's ambition also includes scalable
infrastructure for zero-carbon energy sources, including
production, distribution, storage and bunkering.
Carnival Corporation and its cruise line brands are committed to
developing solutions that support sustainability and
environmentally friendly operations, as part of a broader corporate
strategy that includes its commitment to further improve
environmental compliance and performance. To date, the company
achieved its 25% carbon rate reduction goal and is planning to
reduce its carbon intensity by 40% by 2030.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is the world's largest
leisure travel company and among the most profitable and
financially strong in the cruise and vacation industries, with a
portfolio of nine of the world's leading cruise lines. With
operations in North America, Australia, Europe and
Asia, its portfolio features
Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America
Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises,
P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard.
Together, the corporation's cruise lines operate 105 ships with
254,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with
16 new ships scheduled to be delivered through 2025. Carnival
Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess
Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the
Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London
Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the
only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and
the FTSE 100 indices.
With a long history of innovation and providing guests with
extraordinary vacation experiences, Carnival Corporation has
received thousands of industry awards – including recognition by
the Consumer Technology Association™ as a CES® 2019 Innovation
Awards Honoree for OceanMedallion™. A revolutionary wearable device
that contains a proprietary blend of communication technologies,
OceanMedallion enables the world's first interactive guest
experience platform transforming vacation travel on a large scale
into a highly personalized level of customized service. The
prestigious CES Innovation Awards honor outstanding design and
engineering in consumer technology products.
Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com,
www.princess.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.seabourn.com,
www.pocruises.com.au, www.costacruise.com, www.aida.de,
www.pocruises.com and www.cunard.com.
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SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc