Royal Caribbean, WWF to set goals in renewed partnership

The next five years of the partnership will focus on setting ambitious, measurable sustainability targets for the reduction of carbon emissions, sustainable growth and development, sustainable commodity sourcing and tourism, the elimination of single-use plastics and waste management, among other areas.

Ship, sea, shore goals

This year, WWF and Royal Caribbean Group will work together to establish goals across three key areas: ship, sea and shore.

Ship-related work incudes continuous improvement of operational sustainability, entailing emissions, marine mammal protection, seafood sourcing, plastics reduction and food waste.

Sea-related work entails ocean health through targeted philanthropy, engaging with a global science-driven agenda and consumer-facing education and fundraising campaigns.

On shore, efforts involve embedding principles of sustainable development in projects and increasing sustainability and certification of tour operators.

$5m donation

Royal Caribbean Group will also continue to provide financial support to WWF's global ocean conservation work through a $5m philanthropic contribution and will collaborate with WWF to build awareness about ocean conservation issues among the millions of passengers carried.

Continuous improvement

'Our partnership with WWF encapsulates our belief in continuous improvement and our commitment to advancing our environmental, social and governance work,' Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty said. 'The support and assistance of WWF will be invaluable to realizing this mission as we work to set and achieve our sustainability goals.'

Royal Caribbean Group first partnered with WWF in 2016. Since then, the organization has advised the company to embed sustainability into the core of its business and across the industry, promote responsible tourism in priority coastal destinations and help protect the oceans by investing in conservation programs globally.

This included establishing 2020 sustainability goals that the company has met or exceeded, with the exception of the sustainable seafood sourcing target, which was impacted by the global suspension of service due to the pandemic.

'Scale matters'

'Scale matters, particularly in the face of global challenges like climate change and ocean conservation. We're grateful for the progress Royal Caribbean Group has made toward achieving its sustainability goals since 2016, and we're energized by an ambition for even greater things to come,' said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF-US. 'Our work together is grounded in the reality that people everywhere — from local communities and Indigenous peoples to urban residents and tourists — rely on the ocean for food, livelihoods and enrichment.

'We're committed to doing everything possible to keep ocean ecosystems thriving for the benefit of all people, as well as the many other creatures for whom the ocean is their home.'