MSC Foundation publishes 2022 Annual Report

Twelve months of achievement built on effective programmes, powerful partnerships and a resolute emergency relief commitment, particularly for refugees from Ukraine.

Focus Area: Marine Conservation, Community Support, Education, Emergency relief

The year 2022 was a substantial milestone for the MSC Foundation, marked by a 300% increase in the resources dedicated to our programmes, which enabled us to positively impact the lives of more than 750,000 direct beneficiaries, over 4 times more than the previous year. What’s more, almost doubling this, our partnership with UNHCR provided essential relief items for over 700,000 refugees from Ukraine, mostly traumatised women and children.

These impressive results were not, of course, achieved alone. As Gianluigi Aponte, Chair of the MSC Foundation Board, explains in his opening remarks to the Annual Report, ‘We can only rise to these crucial and often complex challenges effectively by joining together in partnership and collective action.’

The Report echoes this recognition throughout, expressing the Foundation’s deep gratitude to longstanding partners like UNICEF, Marevivo and Mercy Ships, together with the many allies and supporters who have joined us along the way. It is thanks to all of them that the Foundation experienced such remarkable growth last year, advancing 8 programmes in collaboration with 8 partners, 24 organisations and 5 public bodies reaching a total of 20 countries.

Aided by the tireless support of the MSC Group, we completed 8 emergency relief initiatives in 9 countries. These included considerable efforts to aid refugees from Ukraine, partnering with UNHCR to provide and transport emergency relief supplies. Complementing this, we organised a global fundraising campaign in which 1,240 MSC Group employees, partners, colleagues, and family members across 41 countries stepped up to make a difference. The MSC Foundation then matched their donations to mobilise a total of more than CHF 7 million to assist refugees and displaced people from Ukraine.

Our pioneering Super Coral Programme made significant progress with the establishment of the first 4 coral nurseries in the Ocean Cay Marine Reserve. These nurseries were stocked with endangered Elkhorn coral, a species largely absent from the region. In recognition of MSC’s efforts to restore the island’s ecosystems since 2015, Ocean Cay was officially designated a Mission Blue Hope Spot, recognising it as a place of exceptional importance for ocean health.

A further milestone saw us reach the CHF 11 million donation mark in the 12th year of our ‘Get on Board for Children’ partnership with UNICEF. Accompanying this, our Plastic Waste Goes to School Programme with UNICEF in Ivory Coast recycled 99,000 kg of plastic waste in just last year alone, while building 41 additional classrooms to benefit 1,326 more children.

Our development initiatives in 2022 included the launch of 2 new strategic partnerships, one with the Qatar Foundation to conserve and restore Qatar’s coastal environment, and the other with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC, supporting vulnerable New York communities through dedicated educational and environmental programmes. In addition, we joined forces with the United Nations World Tourism Organization to host the very first Global Youth Tourism Summit. This innovative event brought 120 youth delegates from over 60 countries together with the aim of providing them with the resources to help build a more sustainable tourism industry.

Completing the picture, we opened 2 more MSC Foundation Centres for a total of 5 on MSC Cruises ships. As a result, we were able to reach out to 2.5 million guests on 21 ships in 2022, receiving donations that totalled CHF 1 million and were then doubled through our fund matching to achieve twice the impact. At the same time, we engaged more than 100,000 children and youths from 35 countries in edutainment activities during the MSC Foundation Day held on every MSC Cruises voyage in the year.

You can read more about all these programmes, partners and initiatives here in our 2022 Annual Report, while also meeting some of the many beneficiaries whose lives have been changed through our work.