MSC Cruises has been awarded the Green Marine Europe Certification, becoming the first major line to achieve this honor.

The cruise line achieved the highest score across eight performance indicators which, according to the organizers, represent “environmental excellence and leadership”.

 These performance indicators measured included aquatic invasive species, pollutant air emissions, nitrogen dioxide pollutant air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, oil discharge, waste management, underwater radiated noise and responsible ship recycling.

Captain Minas Myrtidis, MSC Cruises’ vice president of environmental operations and compliance, collected the award on behalf of the company at a ceremony held in Bilbao, Spain.

 “We are immensely proud to be awarded the highest possible rating across all of the criteria. The Green Marine Europe certificate is a testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone throughout our business, both onboard and ashore, who have dedicated their collective efforts to help MSC Cruises towards achieving its sustainability goals.  Our certification underscores our strong performance credentials as well as our commitment to performance improvement, transparency and accountability,” said Myrtidis.

Both MSC Cruises and its sister company Explora Journeys have committed to measuring their environmental performance annually and submitting their results to Green Marine Europe for its external accredited verification.