Eco-friendly catamarans: our commitments to sustainable boating
At a time when environmental and societal issues are at the heart of our concerns, Outremer and the group Grand Large Yachting affirm their commitment to pioneering sustainable boating, with the goal of manufacturing more eco-friendly catamarans.
Respect for the environment is one of Outremers’ core values
The initial ambition of the group’s founders was to create innovative sailing boats, as they were convinced that sailing was, and still is, the most natural and respectful of practices.
In this spirit, which remains unchanged, the group has been building sailing catamarans for nearly 20 years that are designed to sail around the world using the maximum natural energy of the wind. Indeed, our boats allow to maximize sailing without an engine, therefore without CO2 emissions and with a lower impact on the environment.
The three pillars of sustainable boating
Building on these historic foundations, the Group is accelerating on its course to meet contemporary challenges. We want sailing to remain a privileged experience on this blue planet, and therefore to minimize its impact on natural ecosystems. We will achieve this by jointly activating three pillars of improvement for more sustainability:
1 – Mainstream the eco-design of boats
We aim to optimize our environmental performance at every stage of an Outremer catamarans’ life: design, production, distribution, use and end of life.
From the choice of materials to the definition of systems, from the production process to the sailing experience, everything must be screened for sustainability to achieve our goal of designing eco-friendlier catamarans.
Using more natural materials, favoring engines that are more economical in terms of fossil fuels or run on renewable energies (electric engines, solar, etc.), or anticipating the recycling of boats: these are Research & Development fundamentals that are building sustainable yachting.
Our goals for 2022:
Mastering life-cycle analysis for all our models and initiating actions to reduce the footprint of our boats
We believe it is essential to implement a life-cycle analysis tool to understand the footprint of our catamarans, to prioritize projects, and be able to measure improvements of our boat’s environmental footprint every year. To this end, we have entered into a partnership agreement with MarineShift360 to help develop a benchmark tool for the industry.
At the same time, we are already launching several concrete projects:
- a call for projects to integrate bio-materials in catamaran construction with Kairos and the University of Montpellier,
- a study on innovative antifouling systems,
- the use of partially bio-sourced epoxy resin,
- and more.
Inventing a more eco-friendly catamaran (under sail or at anchor)
To achieve this, we have initiated various projects: improving solar production, optimizing the integration of hydro-generators, testing the hybrid solutions available on the market with the aim of offering them as standard in 3 years, and following developments around hydrogen.
2 – Aiming to set an example socially
Because sustainable yachting starts with respect for the men and women who work here, Grand Large Yachting invests to optimize the working conditions of its employees, and to ensure their comfort, safety and fulfillment.
The CSR performance of each of the Group’s entities is managed with ever higher efficiency – which allows for concrete improvements, year after year.
We started in 2018 by setting up a sustainable development committee, which has already launched concrete actions: major investments in safety, organization of training, implementation of waste sorting, annual site clean-up campaign, actions to reduce our non-recyclable waste.
Our goals for 2022:
Improve the health and safety of our employees
Reduce the severity rate of workplace accidents by 50%, reduce the frequency rate of workplace accidents by 50%
Improve well-being in the workplace
Overall employee satisfaction exceeding 90%
Reduce our impact on the environment
Reduce our waste by 20% and reduce our energy and water consumption by 5%
3 – Involve our customers and suppliers in sustainable boating
It is the combined action of our 500 employees, our suppliers, our customers and our partners, throughout the entire value chain, that will make a positive environmental impact. In concrete terms, this means committing the players in our supply chain to develop solutions that are more respectful of the environment, strengthening team training and raising awareness of best practice among our customers and boaters.
It is in this spirit that we are working, for example, with the Tara Ocean Foundation on dedicated training courses.
Through this approach, Grand Large Yachting is seeking to contribute on its own scale and to instill a more global dynamic.
Our goals for 2022:
Set up a CSR charter with our suppliers
Adoption of the charter by at least 50% of our suppliers
Set up training to enforce the responsible use of your catamaran
In progress
Offer tools to help customers understand and improve their boat’s footprint
To preserve the emotion of the open sea …
To explore ever further …
To make our dreams come true …
… Let’s set a course together towards sustainable boating!
A concrete and pragmatic program
The approach to leading the way to eco-friendly catamaran manufacturing and sustainable cruising in general is based on two key principles:
- Being in the “concrete”, with practical actions to lower our environmental impact
- Provide proof of the impact of our approach, on the basis of achievable and measurable objectives, with a first milestone at 3 years
To illustrate its actions, and to attract more and more players to think and act on this sustainability theme, we will regularly communicate on a fact or a concrete action of our CSR program:
