Water Revolution Foundation Pushes Forward

Earlier this year, Water Revolution Foundation announced its first nine anchor partners and since then, the non-profit organization has been pushing forward with numerous activities to work on neutralising the ecological footprint of the superyacht industry and preserve the world’s precious ocean.

As a quick reminder, nine superyacht industry business leaders have now become Water Revolution Foundation’s first anchor partners, all joining the mission of ‘driving sustainability in superyachting’: Abeking&Rasmussen, Alexseal, Amels | Damen, Benetti, Feadship, Heesen, Lürssen, MB92 and Rybovich.

These forward-thinking companies have not only recognised the urgency to reduce the industry’s ecological footprint, but have pledged substantial multi-year commitment and financial contributions. Together, these nine leading companies have made a bold statement on what the future of superyachting will look like.

“This leadership is exactly what the superyacht industry urgently needs to accelerate sustainability efforts”, said Robert van Tol, executive director of Water Revolution Foundation at the time of announcement. “Reducing our footprint is a collective challenge and requires real cooperation. I’d like to thank our first anchor partners for sharing this vision, making it possible to start this ambitious programme and call on other companies to join this revolution too.”

Continuing to gain momentum, here’s what else the foundation has been up to since then, and what we can expect in the coming months:

Sustainability Management Course

The first course of Water Revolution’s educational programmes is ready, and this management course, ‘Sustainability in Practice’, is tailored to the superyacht industry. Led by the Centre for Sustainability & Excellence (CSE), who are renowned for their management courses on sustainability and have trained 90% of Fortune 500 companies, the tailored one-day course is very pragmatic and aimed at lowering the barrier to start a sustainability programme inside a company tomorrow. The first course will take place during METSTRADE in Amsterdam on 19 November 2019, with the price for this one-day course set at €370, and for an additional €380, an exam assignment can be submitted to earn an official course certificate. The number of course participants is capped at 18, but more course editions will be offered throughout the year in different locations. Click here to register. 

The First Anniversary is Approaching!

Time flies! Water Revolution Foundation will celebrate its first anniversary at The Superyacht Forum and METSTRADE from 18-21 November at RAI Amsterdam. The Foundation will be active at both The Superyacht Forum as well as at METS’ InnovationLAB Stage, with one of the major deliverables of the inaugural year, Yachting 4.0 – the scientifically-developed yacht assessment tool, being launched at The Superyacht Forum. Exciting news will be announced looking ahead at to the year 2020. Stay tuned!

ISO Convenorship Environment and Sustaiability

At its recent annual meeting, the ISO TC8/SC12 Large Yachts group established a new working group for environment and sustainability. At this same meeting, Robert van Tol, the Foundation’s executive director, was appointed as convener of this new working group. This is another great milestone for Water Revolution Foundation as it puts them in the driver's seat of ISO standards in this field, enabling the team to standardise the tools they develop, and, as they already mobilise the industry for joint industry projects, these meetings can be combined for efficiency.

FLIBS 2019

Water Revolution Foundation will speak at The Super Yacht Americas 2019, organized by Mare Forum, during the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS) 2019. This conference on October 31 gathers yachting executives to exchange views, visions and valuable information. Robert van Tol will be one of the discussion panelists. If you’d like to get in touch to make an appointment during FLIBS to talk sustainability and collaboration, get in touch.

Legal Expertise

Law firm Clyde & Co has offered to lend its expertise and become Water Revolution Foundation's legal advisor on a pro-bono basis. Clyde & Co will help the Foundation with legal aspects related to the organisation, activities, tools and future plans.