What Company is This?
A. P. Møller-Mærsk is a Danish logistics company offering solutions that connect, protect, and simplify customers’ supply chains. The company was founded in 1904 as a steamship company and today employs more than 100,000 people across 35 countries, with revenue of USD 54 billion in 2025 and is listed on the Copenhagen stock exchange. Maritime logistics in the form of container vessels is still at the core of the company, but it also offers additional logistics services, including land and air freight and operates logistics terminals to be able to offer the full chain of logistics for its customers.
What are the results?
A. P. Møller-Mærsk, or Mærsk for short, reaches a total score of 16%, representing a joint second-weakest performance on the Scoreboard, with a 22% score in General Supply Chain Sustainability and a 10% score in Steel Supply Chain Sustainability. In the General Supply Chain Sustainability category, Mærsk scores 11% for Target-Setting and Progress and 17% for Use of Supply Chain Levers. In the Steel Supply Chain Sustainability category, the corresponding scores are 20% and 8%, with zero for Disclosure.
What are the highlights?
Mærsk scores partial points for three indicators in the General Supply Chain Sustainability category. The company has SBTi-verified Scope 3 targets and a 2040 net-zero target, but it does not have a disaggregated target for purchased goods. It also scores partial points for having a general commitment to halt deforestation in connection with biofuels — deforestation is considered an indicator when assessing the impact of new fuels, and only forestry waste and residue from FSC-certified or equivalent forests are accepted as feedstocks, while any first-generation woody biomass is not. Finally, Mærsk also earns partial points for disclosing that its Sustainable Procurement Programme includes contractual supplier selection and management through pre-qualification based on environmental performance, among other criteria.
In the Steel Supply Chain Sustainability category, Mærsk scores 60% for its SteelZero commitment to use 50% lower-emission steel by 2030, on a pathway to using 100% net-zero-emission steel by 2040, and consequently scores 50% for the indicator on SteelZero and First Movers Coalition membership. Mærsk has disclosed a definition of lower-emission steel in a glossary at the end of its annual report, a practice also recommended for other companies to enhance transparency and reduce reliance on interpretation and assumptions. Mærsk’s weak performance, especially in Steel Supply Chain Sustainability, is surprising, given its SteelZero membership and the higher score that might reasonably be expected. It is possible that the company has not fully utilised the support available through this membership. We hope to engage with relevant contacts at the company at a later stage, as they were not available to review the analysis, to discuss these questions with them.
Where can the company improve?
As the low total score suggests, Mærsk receives zero on 15 of 21 indicators. In the General Supply Chain Sustainability category, these include requirements towards suppliers to set science-based climate targets and reporting on them, requirements for water reduction targets and disclosure of water usage towards suppliers, committing to halt deforestation in its supply chains, and implementing incentives and control systems to improve water management in and eliminate deforestation from its supply chains. In the Steel Supply Chain Sustainability category, Mærsk scores zero for not: disclosing its greenhouse gas emissions from steel, disclosing its current use of lower-emission or fossil-free steel, having a target for the use of recycled steel or reporting its annual usage, being a ResponsibleSteel member, having any formal arrangements with steel suppliers to incentivise investment in and scale up production of fossil-free steel, or integrating improved steel recycling into product design and manufacturing.
