Against the backdrop of the global supply chain's green transformation and the accelerated decarbonization of shipping, containers, as a critical component of the shipping industry chain, face heightened green requirements. These demands extend beyond achieving low-carbon and environmentally friendly operations to ensuring they are "quantifiable, comparable, and verifiable".
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) has set clear requirements for central enterprises to promote low-carbon transformation in supply chains. Leveraging the Carbon Footprint and Environmental Product Declaration (CFP&EPD) platform and years of green manufacturing practices, Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of COSCO SHIPPING Development, officially launched the Green Container Rating System and ECO-CON Green Container Brand during the Intermodal Asia 2026. This initiative actively responds to China's "dual carbon" goals and thoroughly implements SASAC's requirements for building green supply chains, demonstrating the responsibility and pioneering awareness of central enterprises in green transformation.
The Green Container Rating System establishes a quantifiable and verifiable classification standard for green container products based on the life cycle assessment method. The standard employs a scientific scoring system across three key dimensions—"mandatory items + basic items + incentive items"—comprising a total of 19 specific indicators. It focuses on evaluating the environmental impact of critical aspects such as production energy consumption, coating processes, recyclable design, and raw material sourcing. Based on the evaluation results, the green performance of containers is classified into five levels: AAAAA (Pioneering ), AAAA (Benchmark), AAA (Advanced), B (Improving), and C (Obsolete).
Shanghai Universal actively develops the ECO-CON green container spectrum, including AAAAA (Pioneering), AAAA (Benchmark), and AAA (Advanced), in accordance with this system. It provides customers with clear, credible, and differentiated green rating labels and certificates, facilitating the accurate identification of high environmental performance products. This effectively supports clients' ESG disclosures, green procurement, and compliance with international requirements such as the EU CBAM.
This system achieves a leap from "qualitative description" to "quantitative grading" for container green performance, forming synergy with the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rating system. It assists shipowners in realizing coordinated carbon reduction through "green containers + green ships," thereby enhancing end-to-end carbon management efficiency.
In the future, Shanghai Universal will leverage its profound expertise in green and low-carbon transformation, collaborate with industry chain partners to continuously improve the green container grading and evaluation system, actively promote the international mutual recognition of Chinese standards, and contribute the "Shanghai Universal Solution" to the green and low-carbon transformation of the shipping industry chain.
