True to its commitments to responsible tourism, PONANT continues to deploy innovative solutions throughout its fleet and puts the seal of environmental excellence on the Green Marine Europe certification for the third consecutive year.
PONANT is the first international cruise company to join the Green Marine Europe environmental certification program for the maritime sector, and has renewed its certification for the third consecutive year. This program provides a detailed framework of indicators that allows port authorities, terminals, shipowners, and shipyards to proactively and measurably reduce their environmental footprint.
The Green Marine Europe initiative recognizes those who measure their environmental performance annually and reduce their ecological footprint. It addresses priority issues through 14 performance indicators, evaluating practices and technologies with a direct environmental impact on a scale of 1 to 5. This year, PONANT achieved an average score of 4.4, reaching level 5 (“leadership and excellence”) in six of the eight indicators.
“PONANT has made a strong commitment to sustainable and responsible tourism, illustrated in particular by the fact that its requirements are considered fundamental to our operations and by the significant deployment of green technology on board our vessels. Participating in a rigorous continuous improvement certification process like the one offered by Green Marine is directly in line with our Blue Horizon sustainability strategy, which also promotes a collective commitment: The sustainable future is our destination,” explains PONANT Secretary General Charles Gravatte.
Since 2019, the company has abandoned heavy fuel oil for Low Sulfur Marine Gas Oil (LS MGO) with a sulfur content of 0.05%, which is ten times lower than what current maritime regulations stipulate.
After committing to equip all its vessels by 2025, PONANT has just fitted L'Austral and Le Boréal with catalytic systems to reduce their nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 90%. Until now, only the six newest PONANT EXPLORER vessels and the world's only luxury icebreaker, Le Commandant Charcot, had this technology.
PONANT has also taken important steps to reduce all its atmospheric emissions, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, which is why the company has chosen to equip all its ships with dockside connections by 2025, starting with Le Dumont-d'Urville and Le Bellot.
The company's environmental commitments are tangibly and visibly reflected throughout the fleet:
– To consider the entire world as a Sulphur Emission Control Zone for all vessels in its fleet by 2025;
– To reduce CO2 emissions by 15% by 2026 and by 30% by 2030 compared to 2019;
– To completely eliminate single-use plastics on board and ashore from 2022;
– To ensure the reuse and traceability of all waste by 2025;
– To embark scientific research teams on board the world's only luxury icebreaker, Le Commandant Charcot;
– To support the international Blue Nature Alliance project which aims to create 18 million km² of marine protected areas (MPAs) by 2025.
