Allianz Global Investors has entered into a five-year partnership with The Sea Cleaners, a new project aiming to combat plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
Its support for The Sea Cleaners is a natural fit with the firm’s commitment to Sustainable investing, with the partnership also set to open up new engagement opportunities for AllianzGI’s colleagues and clients, many of whom are already actively working to combat plastic waste.
Thorsten Heymann, Global Head of Strategy at AllianzGI, said, “A shocking 9 million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the ocean every year – that’s about 300kg per second. As an active, long-terms investor, we want to play an active role in combatting the scourge of plastic pollution, a common cause we share with The Sea Cleaners.”
Partnering with AllianzGI will support the development of ‘The Manta’, The Sea Cleaners’ giant new waste collection ship, which is expected to take to the seas in 2022. The ships would use advanced technology to collect plastic macro-debris in high density areas like coastlines and estuaries before they break up and disperse and irreversibly damage bio-diversity. Besides mass collecting discarded plastic, the ship would also conduct cutting-edge scientific research, with The Sea Cleaners providing open source data. One energy recovery unit will also convert non-recyclable plastics to run the ship and the on-board factory.
On land, The Sea Cleaners work to raise awareness among future generations of the harm caused by plastic pollution through different activities in schools and fairs. As part of the new partnership, AllianzGI colleagues will have the chance to participate in events with The Sea Cleaners’ team focused on reducing plastic pollution and leaders from The Sea Cleaners will attend and support AllianzGI’s range of Sustainability events.
AllianzGI has also attempted to reduce plastic use in its global business in several initiatives. The firm is running internal campaigns to reduce its single-use plastics including introduction of ‘Plastic Free Tuesdays’ in its London Office, encouraging its colleagues to take part in beach clean-up exercises at Baker Beach in San Franciso, Lamma Island in Hong Kong and Taiwan’s ‘Coastal Cleanup’.
