Many in shipping will be deeply saddened today to hear of the unexpected and untimely passing of a friend to many in the industry, Maurice Meehan, who was the Carbon War Room / Rocky Mountain Institute’s director of shipping operations. Alisdair Pettigrew, managing director of BLUE Communications and former senior advisor at Carbon War Room looks back on the career of one of shipping’s leading lights in the fight to decarbonise the sector.
Maurice began his career as an emissions engineer at TRC before joining A.P. Moller—Maersk Group in 2007, where he led the development and implementation of sustainability strategy, along with responsibilities on environment and climate change issues in the offshore and maritime industry. Maurice’s nine years with the group culminated with the role of head of environment and climate change at Maersk Drilling / Maersk FPSO.
After nine years at Maersk, Maurice followed his passion for disruptive technology and sustainability by joining Business for Social Responsibilities (BSR) to lead its European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) transport and logistics sector. In that role he collaborated with multinational companies in the transport and logistics sector, improving their sustainability performance by connecting private industry ambition to BSR-driven initiatives such as Business in a Climate Constrained World (BCCW), Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG).
In early 2017 Maurice joined the Carbon War Room / Rocky Mountain Institute as director of shipping operations. The role was one he was flourishing in before his untimely death last week; focusing on accelerating the much-needed decarbonisation of the global shipping industry.
Maurice’s passion and ability to galvanise enabled him to make great strides in the short period he worked with Carbon War Room. He was instrumental in the development of the Global Maritime Forum’s Task Force on Decarbonizing Shipping and creating several new and promising partnerships. Maurice led a new strategy for Carbon War Room in shipping with a diverse project portfolio that includes stimulating the development of an industry-led pathway towards decarbonisation; including technology and fuels, finance and data transparency.
Never one to tire, Maurice still found time to follow his passion for disruptive technology in his role as co-founder and member of the advisory board of Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration (BLOC), a maritime platform of public and private participants and wider industry talent that have come together to co-create validated prototypes for using blockchain technology to overcome industry challenges in marine and energy. He was a true champion of what blockchain could achieve and made many life-long friends amongst BLOC’s team and collaborators.
Maurice was an experienced, passionate and committed voice around disruptive technology and sustainability in shipping, his work at Maersk, Business for Social Responsibility, BLOC and, over the past year, at Carbon War Room, made an indelible and positive impact. He also had a unique impact upon his friends and colleagues in the industry with his optimism and openness. He was generous with his time and a champion of new ideas and new talent at every level. He was a tremendously well respected and liked individual and it is terribly sad that we no longer have his incredible talents for the vital work of decarbonising and digitalising our industry.
For those that had the privilege of knowing him, our thoughts are with his wife and two young daughters at this tremendously difficult time.
Maurice was a regular contributor to Splash. His latest article looking at future trends was published last month and is available here.
