The “50 Sustainability Climate Leaders” project is the response from the International Business Community, which demonstrated the desire, the leadership, and the will to take effective action in the fight against Climate Change.
Lürssen is featured in a global documentary series in cooperation with Bloomberg about 50 Climate Leaders, based on the climate goals of the United Nations (17 SDGs). The series of films intend to show that leading global companies from various industries can, and are taking the issue of sustainability seriously. They have transplanted it into the DNA of their own companies and are already working with innovations and sustainable business models.
It is clear that a shipyard or the yacht industry as a whole for that matter does not have the reputation of being particularly sustainable and environmentally friendly. However, Lürssen wants to show that there are technologies and activities for even more sustainable products and production processes.
Lürssen has always understood yachting to be a market that has a high demand in new technologies. That is why Lürssen consistently tries to innovate as their forefathers did since four generations. They develop their products to be more sustainable and spend a substantial amount of money in research, cooperate with research institutes and support universities. Numerous innovative technologies have already been successfully implemented on their yachts. This applies to efficient lighting concepts and heat-insulated glass fronts, as well as the use of exhaust gas cleaners and hybrid drives.
The Design of an ecologically sustainable Yacht starts with the right and optimized concept of the Yacht and the choice of modern and efficient components to reduce the energy requirement as a first step. Efficient energy production on board, power storage and a state of the art power management help to further reduce the Green House gas emissions of the vessel. Exhaust gas cleaning and other technologies reduce the emission of noxious or harmful substances in order for the vessel to have an impact as close to zero as possible on sensitive marine environments.
Managing Partner Peter Lürssen states: “A current project is the research of finding new ways to make better use of the powerplant installed in a yacht. We are researching fuel cell technologies and by the end of the decade we should have emission free yachts sailing the oceans. The day-to-day challenge for us as shipbuilders is above all to integrate highly dependable, new technologies into a confined space, to enable trips to the most distant areas of the world and at the same time to meet the high demands of our customers for the quality, design and efficiency of our yachts.”
The yachting industry decided to undertake joint activities to reduce environmental pollution in addition to the individual measures that each company already undertakes and set up the Water Revolution Foundation – the first independent, international, science-driven, non-profit organisation for the yachting community. Their mission is to drive sustainability in the superyacht industry through collaboration and innovation and lead the way to neutralise its ecological footprint and preserve the world’s precious oceans.
Furthermore, Lürssen is a vital supporter of the Blue Marine Foundation – an organisation that is dedicated to restoring healthy oceans by securing marine protected areas and protecting their biodiversity. Their mission is to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 and manage the other 70% in a responsible way. Lürssen would like to encourage more individuals and companies to work together to save not only the future of the yachting industry, but our oceans and not least our planet.