Green Marine embarks on its global expanse
Above and beyondGreen Marine International is a new governance structure overseeing the maritime industry’s environmental certification programs already established in North America and Europe and joining forces to advance environmental excellence globally.
“We’re still celebrating this major decision by the organization’s leadership last spring,” says David Bolduc, Green Marine International’s president and CEO. “It entrenches Green Marine’s values of inclusiveness, rigour and transparency with consistent oversight, while giving Green Marine Europe greater direct industry representation and opening the core program to potential new participants.”
The move comes 17 years after Green Marine was created as a voluntary certification program by the maritime stakeholders within the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region. It also coincides with Surfrider Foundation Europe concluding its four-year licensing agreement with Green Marine at the end of 2024 to establish the European program. Given the strong synergies between the programs, this corporate amalgamation was seen as the next logical step.
Green Marine members and Green Marine Europe members are now all Green Marine International members!
Nothing changes in terms of existing membership requirements, and the Green Marine management team currently in place remains the same. In August, for administrative purposes, Green Marine Europe was incorporated as an association in France. The recruitment process for Green Marine Europe’s new general manager has been taking place this autumn. The appointment will be announced shortly with the new general manager taking charge of the Green Marine Europe program in January 2025.
The new Green Marine International entity continues Green Marine’s successful model of integrating regional, national and international obligations as part of the program’s regulatory baseline, along with its consultative process for determining whether specific environmental concerns for a particular region or industry sector should be integrated into the program. The integration of resources will facilitate program development and synergies between the North American and European participants through a strong shared brand that is increasingly being recognized worldwide.
“Surfrider has always had the intention to hand over Green Marine Europe’s management to the maritime industry’s stakeholders involved in it once they became participants and saw the value of the yearly environmental certification process,” says Florent Marcoux, Surfrider Foundation Europe’s outgoing executive director.
“Surfrider can now focus more of its attention as a non-profit dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans on other sustainability efforts knowing that this maritime initiative will continue and expand in reliable hands.”
Officially incorporated on May 9, 2024, Green Marine International had nine of the 12 members on its new board elected at this inaugural AGM, with the three remaining members nominated by Green Marine Europe’s steering committee on October 21, 2024. This first Green Marine International’s board of directors has an equal number of male and female members.
The European directors are Christophe Mathieu, Brittany Ferries’ CEO; Anne-Sophie Cochelin, CMA CGM’s vice president for Sustainability; and Minas Myrtidis, MSC Cruises’ vice president of Environmental Operations and Compliance.
Brittany Ferries is among the six initial European participants to receive the Green Marine Europe certification in 2020. Its CEO now looks forward to strengthening the maritime industry’s responsible practices across every ocean. “Brittany Ferries has had a strong involvement in the creation and blooming of Green Marine Europe, and it is an honour to contribute to this ambitious certification program on a global level,” Mathieu says.
By joining forces with our North American partners, we are creating a truly global entity capable of making an even greater impact in protecting our oceans and supporting a sustainable maritime industry.
The new board’s parity is welcomed by Bolduc. “There’s no doubt that concerns about the environmental sustainability of the marine industry and the world in general has attracted more women into leading maritime roles,” he says. “Many have since moved into top managerial positions in which sustainability continues to figure as one of their main priorities.”
Bolduc is grateful to Surfrider Foundation Europe for all its work in steering Green Marine Europe’s launch and how it has led to the possibility of having an international structure to oversee its expansion along with the continued steady growth of the North American certification program.
“I’m really proud of the way that the Green Marine program has and continues to extend its reach in a steady but prudent way that ensures it maintains its consistency as it welcomes new participants committed to improving maritime transportation’s sustainability,” Bolduc says.
The next steps include reviewing current ongoing pilot projects for expanding the scope of the Green Marine Europe program to ports, and for adapting the Green Marine program in other regions of the planet, such as Mexico, the Caribbean, and Australia.
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