Marine insurer Gard has been invited to join the UN Global Compact’s Business Action Platform for the Ocean, a cooperation between business, governments, academia and NGOs.
Gard said that the new Action Platform would “explore commercially attractive and viable solutions, suggest industry standards and establish guidelines and best practices to ensure the sustainable use and management of the ocean”.
Gard’s said that its role would also include exploring ideas and inspiring innovations for technical, operational and commercial improvements to ensure a healthy and productive ocean and improve sustainable ocean businesses.
Gard CEO Rolf Thore Roppestad said that “the world’s oceans are our greatest common resource to create growth and jobs in areas including transport, food, energy, tourism, and minerals. Their long-term health is a key component in the well-being of society at large. Yet threats such as climate change, overfishing, marine litter and pollution have put the health of the world’s oceans in a fragile state. Our participation in the Platform is an important contribution to helping make the oceans cleaner and safer, and enabling future sustainable maritime development.”