Charting a course to 2050

The panellists on this session were all part of a larger voluntary team of leaders who have been working with the Water Revolution Foundation (WRF) on pathways towards 2050 for their respective business sectors. 

Setting the scene for the session Martin Redmayne, Chairman and Editor in Chief of The Superyacht Group and The Superyacht Agency reminded delegates that the sector had built around 3500 yachts over the past 25 years that were generally inefficient in terms of propulsion and hotel energy demands. The challenge he set the panel was to offer their suggestions on how the industry could switch in the next 25 years to building smarter, cleaner, greener and more efficient boats.

Providing the global backdrop, Dr Vienna Eleuteri, initiator and vice chair of the WRF, reminded delegates about developments emerging from COP29: “In his opening speech the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, stated that ‘ocean support is not charity, it's an investment. Climate action is not optional, it's an imperative.’ If COP29 has turned climate finance into ocean finance as a top priority, then that is good news because anything we do for the ocean has a multiplier effect.”  Eleuteri quoted research from the International University of Monaco suggesting that a passion for the ocean was a major driver for purchasers of superyachts. This was encouraging insofar as it suggests the people who need to be convinced about the need to improve their impacts on the seas are the ones who are already advocates for the environment.  When Eleuteri explained the 3R model (reduce, remove, recycle), a poll in the room predictably suggested that delegates were most likely involved in reduction activities at present, with removal and recycling less prevalent. In the race to hit net zero and keep global warming below its 1.5°C increase target Eleuteri suggested everyone should look beyond carbon emissions and carbon offsetting and take action to restore our oceans, as they have such a big impact on the health of the planet.

Getting it right on the drawing board

Speaking about her area of expertise Aino Grapin, CEO of Winch Design, explained: “Designers don’t yet have a roadmap to net zero and we are focused on reduction rather than removal currently. That does feel overwhelming, especially as we tend to underestimate the influence that we have as designers. We’re always in the shadows of the big shipyards but we really need to be confident that we can have a great influence.”

Grapin went on to explain that the WRF group she chairs has created a designers protocol, co-authored by several leading design firms and co-signed by many of the top yacht designers in the industry. Given that up to 80 per cent of the environmental impact of a superyacht is locked in at the design stage, getting things right before laying the keel is vital.

She suggested three building blocks for a roadmap to 2050:

• Experiment and measure – there’s a lot of pioneering work already underway but empirical evidence is needed to inform future choices about designs, systems, products and materials.
• Collaborate more – enable lessons learned to be shared and faster progress to be made through opportunities such as when the Water Revolution Foundation brought designers together in a relaxed way without the stress or constraints of a build project.
• Industry commitment – through commonly held rules and initiatives like the designers protocol. This will help overcome issues where clients do not appear to care as much about the ocean as the industry would wish.

Manufacturing with less impact

Roderick de Vries, Technical Director of the De Vries Group, outlined how Feadship’s pathway was to accelerate sustainability efforts ahead of mandated targets: “Our goal is to achieve net zero by 2030, much quicker than the IMO or the Green Deal by the EU. Why? The quicker we go, the less we must restore or to remove. If we make today’s vessels already green, we can then focus on refit yachts to meet whole industry goals by 2050.”

Feadship’s major changes include many significant improvements to its shoreside infrastructure. It has turned to green aluminium and steel at relatively minimal cost increase for ship construction. It has made major changes to its manufacturing infrastructure, introducing solar power and LED lighting. Heat pumps have replaced gas boilers in its enclosed spaces, reducing energy consumption by two-thirds. Building insulation reduces heat loss and noise pollution. Exhaust air is filtered and returns to the atmosphere cleaner than when it was taken in.

For the superyachts themselves diesel electric hybrid power, 3D printing and AI tools for creating smarter and lighter designs are all now commonplace. Multifuel systems for diesel fuel and HVO have a future pathway to be swapped out for methanol or any future synthetic fuel. Diesel generator spaces are designed for easier swap-outs or upgrades to newer technologies.

de Vries suggested there are some barriers to overcome: “We need class and flag organisations to create appropriate regulations, the shipyard has to adapt its engineering and production processes and owners have to accept recycled products and be educated in how to make more sustainable choices, like slower service speeds.”

Less wasteful refits

Ferdinando Pilli, general manager of Lusben, Azimut | Benetti’s refit and repair specialist, highlighted how important it is to have existing superyachts that are designed to be dismantled and optimised for resource efficient refits, with modular sections and easily removed panels: “We should also educate the owner that you do not always need to destroy the interior in a refit and can still provide them with good looking solutions that avoid waste.”  

He highlighted the potential for improving operational efficiency post refit through fitting modern equipment but also raised the spectre of likely difficulties for refitting yachts with older generation powerplants that don’t have enough space to accommodate bulky Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) exhaust equipment for latest generation engines. That in turn could become problematic for the vessel as regulations tighten in desirable, environmentally sensitive cruising grounds.
Commenting on sailing superyachts Pilli suggested these should perhaps have more of a role in the future to reduce underway emissions, but that in practice these vessels formed a small proportion of the fleet and often moved under power, which negated the benefit.

Pilli pointed out the opportunities to reduce operational impacts through crew education and the fitment of new equipment, citing an example of cleaning a yacht less frequently than daily and having systems capable of collecting and treating rainwater for that use. 

Fleet-wide standards

Anders Kurtén, CEO of Fraser Yachts, stated that his business has around 130 vessels under its direct management. He announced a new partnership with the WRF to encourage the owners and operators of these yachts to participate in the YETI (Yacht Environmental Transparency Index) programme: “We will always be in an advisory role. But having significantly better data allows us to give better advice to our clients. We’re seeing signs now of younger generations entering the circa 40m end of the charter market. Although it’s too early to tell yet, we think there will be a significant benefit to them being able to assess their choices through having an environmental benchmark for their choices.
“A wise man said that if you want to grow a forest the best time to start planting trees is about 20 years ago. But if you didn't start 20 years ago, the best time is to start today and that’s where we are now.”

Fraser Yachts’ roadmap towards zero consists of four steps:

• Switch to HVO, because that’s going to dramatically slash all emissions apart from particulates by up to 70-80 per cent – if you cannot currently use HVO then ensure it can be adopted at the next refit. 
• Pressurise marinas to offer green shore power – with superyachts spending 55-60 per cent of their time moored in a port this can make a major difference to emissions. 
• Encourage captains to go slightly slower – a 1-1.5 knot reduction even will make a material difference to emissions. 
• Continually educate captains and crew on circular and sustainable practices – such as switching off underwater lights when there is no-one around. Also use smart sensors in cabins capable of turning off lights and air-conditioning when those spaces are unoccupied.

Responsibility to act now

Summarising the session, Redmayne concluded: “We all have a responsibility to change the way we do things because it's easy if we all say yes. If we don’t start moving at an accelerated rate, we will have regulations imposed on us that may not be based on real knowledge and that we certainly don't want to have to manage. This next 25-year-cycle ahead is critical to ensure we keep momentum shifting across not just the yards, nor the designers, but every single company in the sector.”

The Superyacht Forum 2025

This year’s edition of The Superyacht Forum will run at RAI Amsterdam from 17-18 November 2025. See thesuperyachtforum.com for more details.