CMA CGM Announces $217M Fund Supporting Decarbonization Projects

Following up on its previous commitments to fund a broad range of projects to contribute to the decarbonization of shipping, CMA CGM announced that applications are currently being accepted for the first year of the project.

The shipping giant is accepting applications for a total of €200 million ($218 million) in funding available to both start-ups and businesses working on decarbonization projects or renewable energy.

The Fund for Energies was announced by the group’s CEO, Rodolphe Saadé, in September 2022, promising to provide €1.5 billion over five years to accelerate its energy transition and decarbonization in the transportation segment.

CMA CGM’s participation is part of a broader government initiative announced by France’s secretary of state for maritime affairs, Hervé Berville, mapping out the France-Mer 2030 plan.

The minister said France would invest €300 million over five years to provide a “one-stop-shop” for the state to work with the maritime industry to reduce its carbon footprint, primarily focusing on CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions.

The government’s efforts he said would be wide-reaching including doubling the number of officers trained for the maritime industry to implement decarbonization. To achieve the goals, Berville said they would be launching a team dedicated to decarbonization and he challenged the industry and others to join in the effort.

The CMA CGM Group launched its call for projects saying it was targeted at start-ups and businesses working on concrete solutions to step up the pace of decarbonization within all areas of the French shipping industry.

The fund will invest to support the development and generation of renewable energies, stepping up the pace of decarbonizing industrial facilities across all of the group’s activities, and promoting innovative projects and low-emission mobility solutions.

The first year of the funding is focusing on projects for freight transportation, tourism and cruising, the fishing industry, and navies. It will also include infrastructure projects and renewable energies. Projects will be selected based on their impact on the decarbonizing of the French shipping industry, the maturity of the projects, and the economic feasibility.

Some of them may receive shared investments from the public sector and private operators and beneficiate from the assistance of shipping industry experts to give them every chance of success.

The Fund for Energies is one of several projects that CMA CGM is pursuing. The company is also participating in efforts focusing on the production of methanol and synthetic fuels.

This comes as CMA CGM is also investing heavily in new ships powered by LNG. The company highlighted in 2022 that it already had more than 30 ships capable of running on LNG or in the future e-methane.

By 2026, they have said the fleet will include 77 dual-fuel ships ready to work on future alternative fuels. CMA CGM also ordered its first methanol-fueled containerships in 2022.