Visit the Green Marine website

Green Marine is an environmental certification program for the North American marine industry.

It is a voluntary, transparent and inclusive initiative that addresses key environmental issues through its 13 performance indicators. Participants are shipowners, ports, terminals, Seaway corporations and shipyards.

To receive their certification, participants must benchmark their annual environmental performance through the program’s self-evaluation guides, have their results verified by an accredited external verifier and agree to publication of their individual results.

History

Founded in 2007 by the major marine industry associations in both Canada and the U.S., Green Marine has rapidly gained a reputation for credibility and transparency, and for challenging participating companies to improve their environmental performance beyond regulatory compliance.

The program was originally conceived for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence corridor, but the interest it has generated throughout the marine industry has enabled it to evolve and cover North America in its entirety.

We made remarkable progress since our beginnings in terms of membership, environmental program development, recognition, credibility and visibility. For example, the environmental program received the prestigious Green Shipping Initiative of the Year Award at the Sustainable Shipping Awards 2011, in London, England. This international distinction recognizes environmental excellence and the crucial work of initiatives that help the marine industry improve its sustainable development practices.

In addition, the membership’s steady expansion is definitive proof of the program’s increasing vitality. Our environmental program is specifically meeting the needs of many companies within the maritime world. As a result, a volunteer initiative that was started for shipping companies, ports and terminals operating within the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes has become North American in scope and now includes international ship owners and shipyards.

Guiding principles

In addition to respecting laws and applicable regulations, every company that joins Green Marine agrees to:

• Demonstrate corporate leadership in the search for best environmental practices in accordance with a sustainable development approach.
• Carry out its activities in a responsible manner with a view to minimizing its environmental impacts.
• Aim for continuous improvement of its environmental performance.
• Develop and promote voluntary protection measures.
• Integrate sustainable development practices that are technically and economically achievable.
• Collaborate with governments and citizen groups in the progressive implementation of the action plans arising from the Green Marine Environmental Program.

Contact

Quebec, Canada:
25, du Marché-Champlain, Suite 402
Quebec City (Quebec), G1K 4H2

Key staff:
David Bolduc, Executive Director (418-558-9832) – david.bolduc@green-marine.org
Véronique Trudeau, Program Manager (418-261-3161) – veronique.trudeau@green-marine.org
Manon Lanthier, Communications Manager (418-569-5110) – manon.lanthier@green-marine.org

Seattle, USA:
5315 22nd Ave NW
Seattle, Washington, 98107

Eleanor Kirtley, Senior Program Manager, West Coast and US (206-409-3943) – eleanor.kirtley@green-marine.org