ESG — issues related to environmental, social and corporate governance — has been dominating discussions on ship finance, but assessing and measuring compliance is still in the early stages.
“I’m hearing more about the early days of this transition from qualitative” to quantitative, said International Seaways chief financial officer Jeff Pribor at TradeWinds Shipowners Forum New York on Thursday.
He said ratings from Dutch firm Sustainalytics and the Poseidon Principles — devised by banks to help incentivise green shipping — have helped push ESG into “real numbers” territory, allowing companies to truly be evaluated on how they perform on those factors.
