Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk announced Wednesday it would launch the "world's first carbon neutral" vessel by 2023, seven years ahead of its initial target.

Originally scheduled for 2030, the company said in a statement that the launch had been "fast-tracked by advances in technology and increasing customer demand for sustainable supply chains."

The ship will run on bio-methanol and will be deployed in one of Maersk's "intra-regional networks."

Maersk also noted that around half of its 200 largest customers have already set, or are in the process of setting, "ambitious science-based or zero carbon targets for their supply chains, and the figure is on the rise."

The shipping giant previously operated a massive oil division, but sold it to France's Total in 2017 and aims to go completely carbon neutral by 2050.

In 2020, it reported a drop of nearly 42 percent in emissions for the year as a whole. The company operates in 130 countries and employs some 80,000 people worldwide.

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A.P. MOELLER-MAERSK

TOTAL