Water Revolution Foundation reached another milestone when it was granted the status of a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO). This status is only granted to non-profit organisations where their aims and activities go beyond serving the needs and interests of its partners or the industry it operates in.
The requirements are stringent and this PBO status reinforces Water Revolution Foundation’s core mission, laid in the articles of association, to repair and look after the world’s precious oceans and neutralise the environmental impact of the yachting industry. While started from within the superyacht industry and working on tools that help significantly with reducing our industry’s environmental footprint, without healthy oceans there is little reason to go yachting. Both missions go hand-in-hand and showcase a new hybrid model for the foundation, as well as for the superyacht industry in order to be future proof.
Benefits of the PBO status includes recognition and trust among stakeholders, such as governmental institutions, international organisations, but also philanthropic foundations supporting others. Also, donations, both monetary and intellectual property, and inherited capital are not taxed. It also increases potential access to project funding from national or institutional funds. Most important, however, is that Water Revolution’s true commitment to reaching its goals is being recognized and rewarded with this rare PBO status.
We are pleased to welcome Elisabetta Zerazion to the Water Revolution team as our scientific coordinator. Elisabetta has been instrumental in the development of our Yacht Assessment Tool and was on the panel during its launch at The Superyacht Forum in Amsterdam last November. Elisabetta is a life cycle assessment (LCA) expert, and brings with her a valuable skillset that is rare to find in the superyacht industry, yet crucial if we are to measure our environmental impact. We look forward to helping the superyacht industry assess and, ultimately, reduce its environmental impact. Elisabetta will starting working on the case studies developed together with the foundation’s partners to further fine-tune our tool and onboard the partners, who invested in this tool, first.
To start the decade of sustainability in yachting, Water Revolution Foundation brought its Code of Conduct to the Superyacht Design Festival organised by Boat International Media in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy where it was signed by the leading designers and builders of the superyacht industry.
Code of Conduct
As part of its mission to drive sustainability in the superyacht industry through collaboration and innovation, Water Revolution Foundation has developed a Code of Conduct, made up of 10 commitments for companies to sign up to. It reinforces the collective approach but also emphasises the individual responsibility and major influence that each company has.
Signing the Code of Conduct
There will be further opportunities to sign at other upcoming industry events, including the Dubai International Boat Show, Monaco Ocean Week and Superyacht Design Forum. You can also sign the Code online.
Great news: The superyacht industry is finally able to assess its environmental footprint. Besides the industry’s positive economic and social impacts, it also has an environmental impact.
Being able to measure this is the starting point of being able to improve upon it. The goal of Water Revolution Foundation is that the superyacht industry takes a proactive approach towards sustainability in order to future-proof the business.
We have to do this right, the first time. Therefore, the scientifically-developed and superyacht-tailored assessment tool, initiated by Vienna Eleuteri, before being accelerated and finalised by Water Revolution Foundation, uses the ten most important environmental indicators and is based on the Life Cycle Assessment approach. This is a far more holistic view of the environmental impact of a yacht and is much more sophisticated than simply calculating CO2 emissions of sailing from A to B.
Like with yachts, after a successful launch comes time for sea trials. At the launch of the tool at The Superyacht Forum, we called on the industry to share their case studies with us. Together we will assess their product or service, discuss the results and identify steps for improvement or alternative choices. You can find more information about our Yacht Assessment Tool here.
After a pilot for the foundation’s board members to approve the course content, the first edition took place during METSTRADE. Pleasingly, feedback from attendees was very positive. This course is the first delivery in Water Revolution’s educational programme that we will roll out over time. In 2020, four courses at different strategic locations are already planned. View the first dates and locations here.
This management course is tailored to the superyacht industry and is facilitated by our strategic partner Centre for Sustainability & Excellence (CSE) who are renowned for their management courses on sustainability and have trained 90% of Fortune 500 companies. It’s a tailored one-day course that is very pragmatic and aims to lower the barrier of starting a sustainability programme inside your company as soon as tomorrow, and provides attendees with useful tools and tips.
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