Shipping container giant AP Moller-Maersk now plans to achieve net zero emissions in its business by 2040, a decade earlier than previously announced, on the back of rising customer demand for green transportation and technical leaps.

With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions.

The sector is under growing scrutiny to become cleaner.

"When we set the target back in 2018, it was truly a moon shot target, where truth be told we really didn't have a lot of very specific plans," Maersk's chief executive of Fleet and Strategic Brands Henriette Hallberg Thygesen told Reuters.

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