Verified sustainable progress: initiatives to apply LCA’s in boating

This broadly shared ambition manifests through a multitude of programs and initiatives:

• This year sees the operational start of the Blue Boat Horizon project, in which industry associations ICOMIA, EBI and NMMA work together to create a solid LCA tool for the leisure boating sector.
• Clever reduction of emissions is also the goal of the Impact Accelerator as hosted by Marine Futures, where companies receive free training and support to integrate the LCA tool MarineShift360
• The Water Revolution Foundation has launched their Yacht Assessment Method, as further development of the Yacht Environmental Transparency Index (YETI)
• Super yacht yard Oceanco in the Netherlands, among others, have developed their own custom tool to perform LCA’s that fit the operations at a yard for large luxury yachts, together with consultancy company Haskoning.
• Italian yard Green Yachts is performing LCA’s on their yachts, following methods described in ISO 14040:2006 in co-operation with a consultancy company.
• and more...

 

Maximum gain

Doing an LCA comes down to collecting data from all the stages of design, production, delivery, use and end of life recollection and recycling. Detailed information about the environmental impact at these stages shows where most pollution is caused. This enables the designers to change the boat or product in such a way that the biggest possible gain in sustainability is achieved.

Validated decisions

Let’s take the example of a planing motor yacht. A yard can choose to construct the hull from glass reinforced polyester or epoxy, flax reinforced recyclable epoxy or from aluminium. This has different impacts on the ecological footprint of production. An LCA may indicate, however, that by far the biggest impact on the environment during the yacht’s 25 year lifetime is the exhaust gasses coming from the engine.

There for, the biggest reduction of harmful pollution from the yacht can be achieved by choosing electric propulsion or non-fossil fuels. For a different type of yacht, an LCA will most likely present other stages during the yacht’s lifetime that cause peak emissions. Doing an LCA helps the design team to focus on the areas where the biggest reduction of environmental impact can be achieved.

It could also inspire a complete re-thinking of a yacht’s concept: to reduce weight, add hydrofoils and make electric propulsion possible with limited battery capacity. Performing an LCA in all cases helps to make informed and validated decisions. 

Sincere ambition

Government officials and regulating bodies have learnt about LCA and are expected to impose rules for companies to deliver assessment reports with their products. Anticipating possible regulation, the industry is adapting LCA in their production processes. Apart from that, the sector shows a sincere desire to produce sustainable boats and products. 
  

World standard

The joint project Blue Boat Horizon from international association ICOMIA with European association EBI and US association NMMA is a first to bring the global industry together. “We recognise the significance of partnering with the global market to establish a unified global LCA methodology,” NMMA president Frank Hugelmeyer saiys. 

“Leisure boats and related products are increasingly sought around the world, making that consistency more important than ever. We look forward to introducing the new LCA as a resource to empower the industry to consistently measure, communicate and self-regulate their environmental performance, and continue the momentum and global harmonisation.” Setting the standards for a global LCA method can make it possible to compare the sustainable performance of yards, suppliers and individual yachts around the world.

Having a global standard ahead of regulations, can also persuade governments to adapt this standard. Expertise from the specialists, the yards and designers themselves, is put in the standard. It will be hard for regulating bodies to do a better job customising LCA standards for the marine industry.

Reliable data

Ready functioning LCA tool MarineShift360 was developed by British company Marine Futures. During November’s Metstrade show, the company hosted the Marine Impact Lab together with consultancy firm Foxall Munro. Industry delegates gathered to learn how to apply LCA tools in their businesses.

“Measuring the level of environmental impact directly with the own supply stream and with the production methods used, always provides the most reliable data,” Marine Futures director Ollie Taylor explains. “But you can also use the database of Eco-invent, that presents average impact scores for different types of materials. Eco-invent is now upgraded to version 3.0, that has a larger range of materials and more refined data about them, so the rougher calculations using a global database instead of on-site measurements, will be more precise than before. The database aligns with our software tool.”

Cohort of accelerators

During the Marine Impact Lab, the 2026 Impact Accelerator was announced. Up to five companies in the marine sector will get free support to perform full Life Cycle Assessments  (LCA’s) on their products or even complete yachts.

Selected applicants for the Impact Accelerator get free access to the MarineShift360 tools, consultancy how to apply it, and an apprenticeship with Marine Futures. The 2025 cohort consisted of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and BARtechnologies from the UK and Swedish non-fossil fuel provider Secfuel. Parties in the 2026 cohort will be announced in February.

Voluntary carbon tax

The Impact Accelerator program is supported by 11th hour racing. It provides free access to LCA tools and training how to use them for frontrunners in the field of sustainable production in the marine industry. Applying LCA’s and adapting the production process to the outcome, requires investment. “Funds are needed,” says Richard Power, managing director at Fastnet Marine Insurance.

“We as an industry can’t rely on on government funds to implement LCA’s. We can create scale funds, on company level or possibly at industry level. We can put a tax on carbon emissions, even within our own company or maybe within an industry association. The earning of such contributions can be invested in adapting more sustainable material sourcing, production and designing more sustainable products. This sounds strange, to create a voluntary industry tax on emissions. But it can work. The organisation behind the America’s Cup has created a fund like this. They sponsor start-ups and innovation projects from that fund.”