The Water Revolution Foundation has issued an open letter outlining four recommendations to help foster more sustainable practices in the superyacht sector. These recommendations – billed as ‘yachting resolutions’ for 2025 – are aimed at yacht owners and family offices.
The Water Revolution Foundation was started from within the superyacht industry to help the industry reduce its footprint. It is an independent Dutch legal entity called a ‘stichting’, which is “an institution aiming to achieve a certain goal”. The foundation’s recommendations are as follows:
Evaluate environmental performance
The Yacht Environmental Transparency Index (YETI) is an industry-developed tool designed to benchmark yachts against a target reference line. This voluntary initiative helps owners and managers assess their yacht’s efficiency in comparison to the wider fleet, identifying opportunities for improvement. The process is confidential and provides actionable insights.
Adopt environmental crew guidelines
Encouraging yacht masters, crew, and managers to implement environmental crew guidelines can enhance environmental awareness on board. These guidelines provide a framework of best practices developed by crew for crew, supporting both environmental goals and cost optimisation.
Allocate 0.5 per cent of annual budget to ocean conservation
The foundation advocates dedicating 0.3–0.5 per cent of annual yacht operational budgets to marine conservation efforts. Initiatives such as the Ocean Assist Programme aim to restore ocean health through projects vetted by an independent scientific advisory board. Contributions generate certified ‘Ocean Assist Units’, which can support a yacht’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) profile.
Explore alternative fuels
Investigating cleaner fuel options, such as hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO), is recommended by the foundation. HVO fuel can replace conventional diesel without requiring modifications to existing systems, thereby reducing environmental impact.
The outsized carbon footprint of superyachts means — without significant change — emissions from superyachts could easily exceed 10Mt CO2 annually in 2030 – up from 4.7Mt CO2 in 2018, according to the IMO. Spanish yacht refitting company MB92 Group estimated that a superyacht can generate up to 7,020 tonnes of CO2 a year – more than 1,500 times that of a typical family car.
