PONANT's Certification: A new first for Green Marine
Marseille, France, September 24, 2020 – PONANT is the first international cruise line to join the Green Marine environmental certification program for the marine industry. This initiative distinguishes the players in the maritime industry that undertake to measure their environmental performance each year and reduce their environmental footprint.
The program offers a specific framework for port authorities, terminal operators, ship owners and shipyard managers to productively and measurably reduce their environmental footprint. Green Marine addresses a number of priority environmental issues through its 13 performance indicators – seven of which are designated for ship owners. The indicators assess on a scale of 1 to 5 the practices and technologies having a direct impact: underwater noise, pollution atmospheric emissions (NOX, SOX and PM), greenhouse gas emissions (CO2), invasive aquatic species, waste management, and oil discharges. PONANT this year obtained an average of 4.4 and achieved Level 5 (leadership and excellence) for five of the seven indicators.
“Our visions of tomorrow’s tourism, sustainable and responsible, prompts us to constantly impose ever more virtuous standards in terms of respect for the environment. Engaging in a rigorous certification and continual improvement process, such as the one offered by Green Marine, is natural,” states Nicolas Dubreuil, PONANT’s Polar & Tropical Expedition Expert and Director of Sustainability. “A halt to heavy fuel oil use, the utilization of the latest technological innovations, a dramatic reduction of single-use plastics, the implementation of environmental and societal impact studies, awareness-raising among our passengers, the creation of our foundation… We do everything we can to ensure that the environment’s preservation is at the heart of our actions.”
David Bolduc, Green Marine’s executive director, is proud to welcome PONANT to the certified participants’ program. “This is a major ship owner in the cruise sector that has repeatedly demonstrated its community to sustainable development through several initiatives, in terms of atmospheric emissions, plastics reduction, carbon offsetting or new technologies,“ Bolduc explains.
More than 145 Canadian and U.S. enterprises currently participate in the program. Any international company is also eligible to obtain certification as long as it operates in North America, as is the case with PONANT, which offers cruises in the Canadian and U.S. Arctic.
With a transparent certification process, the results are independently verified every two years and the individual performance of each company is made public annually on the Green Marine website.
About PONANT
Founded in 1988, by officers of the French Merchant Navy, PONANT has created a new style of cruising, under the French flag, through a unique concept of sea travel and a commitment to promoting sustainable and responsible tourism. Accessing exceptional territories aboard yachts featuring refined design, on which the art of living and excellent cuisine take pride of place: such is the promise of a unique and authentic PONANT voyage.
To prepare for the resumption of its activities, PONANT is collaborating with the IHU (Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire) Méditerranée Infection of Marseilles, one of the world’s leading centres in the field of infectious diseases, as well as Bureau Veritas. The « COVID-Safe » protocol developed by PONANT is based on health standards that exceed international regulations.
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