Another eye-catching WRF undertaking is the Yacht Environmental Transparency Index (YETI), a standard sustainability measuring tool, that was launched at METSTRADE 2022.


“You cannot look at one type of yacht,” says WRF naval architect and sustainable design specialist Hanna Dąbrowska. “You need to compare various projects to define what is acceptable or better. The focus comes through optimisation and learning from the innovations of other projects.”


The 47 WRF members, rivals on any day of the week, jointly toil on a sustainable future for their sector. The WRF uses ecological impact calculations from boats built by more than 20 yards into a single YETI graph.


“The group’s willingness to share data has been formative in our successful, and continuing, development of YETI 1.0,” says Dąbrowska in the annual report. “This tool will reach the impactful parties who can drive real change in the sector.”


YETI 1.0 is “an objective measuring tool, able to compare new and existing yachts on their environmental credentials,” says WRF chairman Henk de Vries. The WRF has also developed a Yacht Assessment Tool that measures each yacht’s ecological impact.


Lacking the massive economic, industrial and lobbying heft of the car, plane and IT sectors, the WRF seeks support from within the global high-end yachting sector whose wealthy clients are deemed able and willing to drive sustainable solutions.


The unspoken motive is that solutions crafted by the high- end yacht sector will be more palatable than whatever solutions national or local governments will impose.


“Both owners and shipyards must take responsibility,” says Lürssen Yachts CEO Peter Lürssen. “We need to talk to our clients and encourage them to invest in more sustainable technologies. We will discover these new technologies more quickly and introduce them to clients more easily if we work together.”


Vienne Eleuterik, WRF initiator and vice president said “There is no bigger opportunity for the yachting community to step up the plate now and take on the strategic role it can have.”


“We need to be equally clear, unambiguous, and sector- specific when contributing to the ongoing emergency,”


Vienne Eleuterik, WRF initiator and vice president


she say. “Therefore, there is no bigger opportunity for the yachting community to step up to the plate than now and take on the strategic role it can have.”


She is a sustainability scientist. The WRF annual report carries a 1,300-word contribution from her explaining the state of the oceans.


Dutch superyacht builders were vital in creating the WRF. Six of its 13 “Anchor Partners” are Dutch, but the WRF stresses its sustainability drive is designed to benefit the global industry.


Its sustainability forces the superyacht sector to tread carefully. “Sustainability and superyachting might sound like an oxymoron,” the annual report says, “but no sector is free from impact. Every time an industry player communicates wrongly, it hurts all of us. As an industry, the license to operate can be on the line.”


WRF treasurer Louis van Beurden says the challenges of 2022 have not slowed down the WRF, saying, “We were pleased to maintain the commitment of the partners and their financial support.”


The annual report showed an income for the WRF in the year to June 30, 2022, of €483,345, primarily membership fees (€476,700) and expenses of €388,308.


The WRF board members comprise: Chairman Henk de Vries (Feadship/Netherlands), Vice- President Vienna Eleuteri (Italy), Designer Philippe Briand (France), Martin Redmayne (Superyacht Group/UK), Peter Lürssen (CEO Lürssen Yachts/Germany), Carolina Corral (Safe Harbor Marinas/USA) and Louis van Beurden (WRF Treasurer/Netherlands).


The Report • June 2023 • Issue 104 | 75


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