Columbia Group, a leading integrated maritime, logistics, leisure, energy and offshore services platform, has released its latest sustainability report highlighting the importance of its people who are described as the ‘backbone’ of the company.

The report design focusses on the many colleagues who make up Columbia Group, both onshore and aboard, as well as clients and service partners.

CEO of Columbia Group, Mark O’Neil, said: “Our people are the backbone and raison d’etre for what we do and how we do it, and that is why we put their consideration at the front, middle and end of everything we do. Without absolute focus on the “S” in ESG we cannot achieve the “E” or the “G”.

Last year brought numerous global challenges, from geopolitical conflicts to the escalating climate crisis, Mr O’Neil highlighted in the report.  In response, the company has continued to evolve, embedding ESG principles into its business strategy and risk management framework.

Columbia’s ongoing commitment to sustainability is evident in the steps it has taken to align with new regulations, such as the EU Taxonomy and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). These frameworks are helping the company to refine its practices, ensuring that it contributes positively to the environment and society while maintaining strong business performance.

“At Columbia Group, we believe that meaningful change starts with each of us. Our ethos, ‘We are Columbia. It starts with us,’ underscores our dedication to responsible and ethical business practices,” Mr O’Neil said. “We are proud of the progress we’ve made, but we also recognise that there is much more to be done. Together, we are poised to build a more sustainable and resilient future.”

The health and safety of the Group’s seafarers is of top priority to Columbia, the report said. Taking a holistic approach to crew wellbeing, the company covers many dimensions of seafaring through various collaborations and partnerships, and initiatives that promote healthy physical and mental wellbeing, delivered through its preferred partner OneCare Group.

The report also highlighted how 2023 reinforced the importance of flexibility and adaptability, with Columbia ensuring it was continuously monitoring its operating environment and analysing market conditions to better respond to emerging conditions. The Group is committed to empowering employees through continuous learning, leadership development and collaboration.

Columbia takes a leading role in adopting the latest technological advancements to ensure it delivers the highest quality of training to its seafarers. It has underlined its commitment to top level training of its crew by signing an agreement with the Nautilus Pacific Maritime Training Center in Manila to be the exclusive training centre for its seafarers in the Philippines. The agreement helps the Group tap into state-of-the-art simulators, holograms and webinar technology to bring together the highest quality in-person and online seafarer training.

Columbia is passionate about the environment and one of its long-term goals is to reduce the amount of single-use plastic onboard and ashore. It has been installing water filtration systems onboard all its vessels with an advanced eight-stage filtration system to allow seafarers to use them for both hot and cold drinks.

The Columbia Group has also established a reduction and mitigation strategy for CO2 emissions through office improvements, green energy use, monitoring non-electrical company cars’ fuel consumption, minimising travel and other initiatives. In its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, Columbia Group has also implemented an Emission Monitoring and Reporting service, focusing on optimisation strategies to further enhance its environmental performance.