CirclesOfLife: towards more integrated approaches in shipyard environmental performance

At the end of 2025, the Horizon Europe CirclesOfLife project released an explanatory video presenting the tools currently under development to support the environmental transition of the European shipbuilding sector.

Several months on, this video provides a useful perspective on how these tools are structured - and how they may progressively contribute to shaping sector practices.

Three tools to connect performance, materials and lifecycle

CirclesOfLife brings together 15 maritime organisations across Europe, including Green Marine Europe, around the development of three complementary tools:

• the Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI), designed to assess and benchmark environmental performance at shipyard level,
• the Ship Circular Materials Passport (SCMP), focused on improving material traceability and circularity,
• the Ship Lifecycle Passport (SLP), aimed at integrating lifecycle considerations across the value chain.

Beyond their individual functions, these tools are conceived as part of a broader effort to better articulate operational data, material flows and lifecycle information within a more coherent framework.

A convergence with existing sector approaches

The priorities addressed - reducing emissions, improving material circularity, and enhancing environmental transparency - are already central to many initiatives across the sector.

What CirclesOfLife explores is the possibility of structuring these dimensions in a more integrated way, with a stronger emphasis on data consistency and interoperability.

For Green Marine Europe, as both a certification programme and a consortium partner, this work is of direct interest. It contributes to ongoing reflections on how environmental performance can be assessed in a way that remains both rigorous and operationally relevant.

From research outputs to potential framework evolution

At this stage, the tools presented remain under development and are being tested through pilot phases.

Their outcomes could, over time, inform the evolution of existing frameworks - including the environmental indicators developed by Green Marine Europe for shipyards. This would not imply a direct integration, but rather a progressive enrichment, based on tested methodologies and operational feedback.

Such an approach remains consistent with GME’s positioning: building on existing practices, while remaining attentive to innovations emerging from research and industry collaboration.

A gradual structuring of practices

More broadly, CirclesOfLife reflects an ongoing evolution in the sector. The challenge is less about introducing new concepts than about improving the articulation between them - performance measurement, material traceability, lifecycle thinking and reporting requirements.

This raises familiar questions for shipyards and their stakeholders: how to organise data in a meaningful way, how to ensure consistency across tools, and how to translate increasingly complex expectations into workable operational practices.

The video released in 2025 offers a snapshot of this trajectory. The coming phases of testing and refinement will determine how these tools can effectively contribute to the sector’s gradual structuring.