The Move to -15 demonstrates game-changing creativity and problem-solving, breaking new ground and pushing the boundaries of what our industry can achieve. We successfully challenged an industry standard that had been best practice for a century, and found a way to transform not just DP World’s business, but the whole industry, for the sake of our planet.

This initiative positions DP World at the forefront of a sustainability revolution, seeking collaboration with B2B partners and competitors, and encouraging transformation along the entire of the cold chain, to positively impact the planet. Already, 60% of the industry has signed up.

The effects of global warming impact food security.

The shipping container industry transports millions of tons of frozen food to countries all over the world. This is vital for food preservation and access, but does come with an environmental cost of its own.

There is no bigger cultural question for the global shipping industry to address right now, than its relationship with sustainability.

Many brands create small sustainability activations, more creative than they are impactful. That’s great-all positive change, no matter the size, is important. But DP World is a big global shipping company with a huge global responsibility. We couldn’t create a campaign around sustainability without an equally big global action.

If that action was designed DP World alone, the impact would be less than the world (and our line of business) needs.

So at a time when competitors would rather fight each other than fight for a common cause – we needed competitors to become partners.

We presented robust data, showing that raising the frozen temperature for the cold chain in shipping by 3 degrees would not harm the food inside the containers, but for the world outside? Transformative.

The initiative was relevant and relatable for every country. Both campaign name and launch materials were designed to be neutral so that our competitors could jump on board and adopt the move themselves. Becoming part of the Move to -15 would cost nothing and (in a financially challenging time) would even save companies money on energy.

DP World’s purpose is to make trade flow, and to change what’s possible for everyone. To achieve this it focusses on fast, sustainable movement of products through a single platform for trade.

For everyone’s sake, to ensure a more sustainable world, we needed to change what is possible. So we challenged a hundred-year-old standard -the one saying that frozen food should be transported at -18C.

Ground-breaking research from independent scientists told us that we could raise the temperature of frozen food storage and transportation by 3-degrees without harming the food.

This idea actions UN development goal number 9, building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation.

Raising the temperature inside the containers by 3 degrees would ensure a more sustainable consumption of frozen food – UN development goal number 12 – since less energy is required, yet the food remains unharmed (no impact on food quality=no more food waste).

The move to -15 aligns with UN development goal number 13 “to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.” We shared our research with the world and urged our competitors to join us for a mass-scale global collaboration that would positively impact the planet (saving 17.7 million tons of carbon – the equivalent of taking 3.8million cars off the road).

Thresholds for companies to join were low, requiring no expensive machinery to implement and requiring less energy in the cold chain than current practices, thereby also lowering energy costs for the companies and competitors.

Brief

Container shipping ensures equal access to food worldwide. But it too comes with an environmental cost. DP World wanted a sustainability campaign that showed action, to increase trust amongst B2B stakeholders.

Background

For ≈100 years, we have shipped frozen food worldwide at the globally recognized standard temperature of -18 degrees Celsius. Every degree has significant impact on global warming.

Insight

We asked, does the freezing temperature have to be that cold?

Research

We ran initial research with our agency’s discovery analysts. Then we briefed independent academics at the International Institute of Refrigeration and the University of Birmingham, who after months of research came to a ground-breaking conclusion: A temperature change of three degrees wouldn’t harm the food inside the containers.

For the world outside? Transformative, promising energy savings of:

25 terawatt-hours annually (=8,63% of the entire UK energy-consumption)

17,7M tons of carbon annually (= 3.8million cars off the road)

The effects of global warming impact food security.

The shipping container industry transports millions of tons of frozen food to countries all over the world. This is vital for food preservation and access – and that need will continue to rise as global warming worsens - but the activity does come with an environmental cost of its own.

There is no bigger cultural question for the global shipping industry to address right now, than its relationship with sustainability.

DP World is a big global shipping company. We couldn’t create a campaign around sustainability without an equally big global action that would have a real impact on the planet.

If that action was designed for DP World alone, the impact would be less than the world (and our line of business) needs.

We needed to put competitor differences aside and come together in collaboration for the sake of our planet.

As the world’s temperatures continue to rise, established business practices need to be challenged.

The Move to -15

An initiative led by DP World to challenge a 100-year-old standard.

In line with robust, independent research, we would raise the temperature of frozen food inside shipping containers by three degrees, from -15C to -18C. This change wouldn’t harm the food inside the containers but – when executed at scale across the entire cold chain and industry – would be literally transformative for the planet.

For this idea to achieve the desired scale and impact, we had to convince competitors to become allies. So we set about making that happen; we launched at COP28, shared our research with the world and started enlisting companies and competitors to sign up to the Move to -15, for the sake of our planet.

After ensuring we had robust data showing how a temperature change of three degrees wouldn’t harm the food – our whole strategy focused on turning competitors to allies. Or current 18C standard would stay the same, no matter what our research showed.

So instead of asking ourselves how DPW would benefit from our findings, we asked how they could be embraced by the whole industry.

Our target audience was clear: Global companies within the shipping industry, specifically within the cold chain.

The approach was to make sure our initiative was perceived as neutral.

We had an unbranded neutral name (The move to -15).

We identified a neutral industry expert, Thomas Eeskesen, with 40 years’ experience at some of our biggest competitors – to galvanize support from industry stakeholders.

We chose a neutral place for our launch, one that was all about industry collaboration for the greater good: Cop28

Before Cop28, we published a comprehensive report, where we shared our research openly and freely with all our competitors.

At Cop28, we launched a 360 campaign.

We hosted an 15C event at the DPW House at COP28 where the academics shared more about their research. A panel discussion was had with key members of industry discussing the Coalition’s potential, and Maha Al Qattan took part in a Q&A about it.

We wrote an open letter to urge companies to join our initiative.

We launched a dedicated microsite with our hero video, academic report, infographic and key messaging.

We created content that was shared on the social media channels of key DPW stakeholders, and we also ran paid campaigns on LinkedIn.

We drafted and issued a press release to international, UAE and trade media to announce the research and the launch of our Coalition.

We successfully challenged an industry standard that had reigned for ≈100 years.

60% of the global shipping container industry has signed up to our initiative, along with more global companies, including 17 of the world’s biggest food producers, refrigeration companies, haulers and warehouses.

4.4M views, organic and paid, for our hero video.

Trust for DP World went up with 11% after the campaign, measured by their year-on-year brand tracking from Brand Finance. This made it the most trusted brand within their competitor set.

Positive news in key global business media, including Forbes, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance.

Campaign landed strongly with the trade and sector media, including big coverage in specialist sector publications like Cold Chain News, The Lode Star, The Grocer and Just Food.

Former Prime Minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning Schmidt said: “It’s powerful to see competitors come together on something momentous, which doesn’t require new tech, just collaboration.”

Every part of The Move to -15 has long term impact and scale at heart.

Backed by robust science, Join the Move to -15C is an initiative designed to unite stakeholders at every stage of the cold chain to accelerate decarbonisation and build resilience for the world’s future food needs.

Just 3 months after launch, the coalition has already signed up 17 major partners. Together they represent a critical mass of 60% of the world’s global cold chain container shipping industry.

For greater longevity and ongoing impact, we have established The Move to Minus Fifteen Coalition as an independent not-for profit entity, supported by DP World.

In the years to come, the Coalition and its members will continue push the change temperature set throughout the whole cold chain, continuing to attract even more members, reducing emissions and saving energy.

Carbon emissions relating to the campaign were not measured. The work is focused on the preservation of wildlife rather than reduction in carbon emissions.

However, the work was completed within the framework of our agency’s carbon-reduction program, so followed the planning rules and regulations on place to keep us on track for our targets.

Detail:

As a member of the Science Based Targets Initiative’s Business Ambition for 1.5° Celsius, our agency is committed to achieving our science-based target by 2030 and becoming a net-zero company by 2040. The Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has approved [the agency's] near-term science-based emissions reduction targets of reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 80% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline, and to reduce absolute scope 3 emissions 55% within the same timeframe.