Green Shipping Day 2026: Revisiting the Discussions in Nice

How can the maritime sector turn its environmental commitments into viable investments, operational improvements and measurable results? This question was at the heart of the discussions at Green Shipping Day 2026, held on 23 September in Nice.

Bringing together shipowners, ports, shipyards, public authorities, researchers, financial experts and environmental organisations, the event explored the practical conditions needed to support a more sustainable maritime transition, from international cooperation and blue tourism to financing, circularity and environmental certification.

International Cooperation: Connecting Science, Public Policy and Maritime Stakeholders

The opening session highlighted progress in international environmental cooperation, as well as the challenges that remain.

The Pelagos Sanctuary, a marine protected area shared by France, Italy and Monaco, provided a concrete example. Léa Glâtre, representing the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, presented the Pelagos Consortium's ambitions for 2025–2029, particularly its aim to translate scientific knowledge into effective conservation measures.

Maria Betti, Executive Secretary of the Pelagos Agreement, stressed the importance of involving maritime operators in developing solutions, recognising their operational expertise and their ability to contribute to monitoring systems and data collection.

Representing the Italian maritime cluster, Laurence Martin welcomed the progress achieved through cooperation between the three countries, while highlighting the remaining challenges in balancing effective biodiversity protection with the competitiveness of the maritime sector.

The session also offered a broader international perspective. David Bolduc, President and CEO of Green Marine International, presented the organisation's strategic direction, including the strengthening of its international identity and wider recognition of its voluntary environmental certification programme.

Blue Tourism: Environmental Performance Beyond the Vessel

The panel discussion on blue tourism addressed a growing challenge for maritime destinations: while improving the environmental performance of vessels is essential, it is not enough to reduce all the pressures associated with tourism activities.

Stéphanie Lericollais Moreau, European representative of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), discussed investments made by the cruise industry in cleaner technologies, particularly shore power and alternative fuels. However, their deployment still depends on the availability of suitable port infrastructure and fuel supplies. Examples from Dubrovnik and the Nice–Villefranche area also illustrated how the sector can work with local authorities to manage visitor flows more effectively.

Marisa Costa, Head of Sustainability at MysticInvest, explained how smaller vessels can offer greater flexibility in organising port calls and passenger activities. However, vessel size alone does not guarantee better environmental performance: impacts must be assessed using appropriate indicators.

Drawing on experience in Cyprus, Xenia Loizidou, Director of ISOTECH, demonstrated how structured cooperation between public authorities, businesses and other stakeholders can turn individual commitments into coordinated action.

Lucile Courtial, Executive Secretary of Beyond Plastic Med, approached plastic pollution from another perspective. Rather than focusing solely on recycling, she emphasised the need to reduce plastic use at source, identify unnecessary applications and involve employees in practical changes. She also highlighted how reducing plastic consumption can go hand in hand with lower operating costs.

Together, these contributions highlighted the importance of a destination-wide approach, connecting maritime activities, port infrastructure, local communities and environmental management.

Financing the Transition: Making Innovation Bankable

The panel discussion on financing examined why promising environmental projects sometimes struggle to attract investment.

Olivier Challine, Partner at Stream Avocats & Solicitors, illustrated the difficulties faced by innovative maritime projects, particularly vessels using wind-assisted propulsion. Higher initial investment costs, operating expenses that are difficult to predict and the absence of an established resale market make it harder for financiers to assess long-term risks. Reliable data and secure commercial commitments are therefore essential.

Géraldine Andrieux, Founder and CEO of Blumorpho, advocated an ecosystem-wide approach to maritime financing. New propulsion technologies, port electrification and energy infrastructure require investments involving multiple stakeholders, who do not necessarily benefit from the same economic returns. She highlighted the value of combining public guarantees, private capital and coordinated projects to overcome these barriers.

Financing biodiversity protection raises even more complex questions.

Marie-Aude Sévin, Director at BlueSeeds, pointed out that environmental benefits do not necessarily generate direct financial returns. Protecting natural resources creates collective value, but raises fundamental questions: who should finance conservation, how should costs be shared, and what role should public policy play?

Clément Lavigne, Founder of RegenSea Advisory, and Olivier Challine also emphasised the importance of integrating economic, environmental and social benefits into project assessments and associated risk evaluations.

The discussions highlighted the need for more predictable regulatory frameworks, comparable environmental data and business models capable of aligning the interests of investors, operators and beneficiaries.

Maritime Circularity: Connecting Design, Procurement and End-of-Life Management

The panel discussion on circularity raised a very practical question: how can decisions made during vessel design and construction make it easier to recover, reuse and recycle materials several decades later?

Rosanne van Houwelingen, representing the Horizon Europe CirclesOfLife project, presented ongoing work on a ship lifecycle passport designed to improve the traceability of materials, components and hazardous substances throughout a vessel's operational life. Such a tool could facilitate maintenance, reuse and recycling. However, several issues remain to be addressed, particularly data ownership, confidentiality and updates.

Marc Bonazountas, CEO of EPSILON International and representative of the Horizon Europe EcoShipYard project, stressed the importance of ensuring that research and innovation projects lead to solutions that are actually adopted by the maritime industry.

Mary Ntamark, representing the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA), highlighted the crucial role of procurement. For reusable materials and components to become part of standard industrial practices, circularity must be integrated into technical specifications and contracts, without compromising safety or reliability requirements.

Vincent Guerre, representing SEA Europe, placed these challenges in the context of European industrial competitiveness. Stronger cooperation across the maritime value chain could help identify shared investment needs, optimise resource use and support the development of viable industrial solutions.

For Green Marine Europe, Cherif Belgaroui, Program Manager, explained how environmental certification could help translate research findings into practical improvements, particularly through continued work on environmental performance indicators for shipyards.

The discussion also revealed differing views on the balance between voluntary approaches and mandatory requirements, reflecting the broader challenges of making circular practices more widespread across the maritime industry.

Environmental Certification: Making Progress Visible

The final session explored how maritime organisations can demonstrate sustained improvements in their environmental performance over time.

Antidia Citores, General Manager of Green Marine Europe, highlighted the growth of the European programme, which now brings together more than 100 members across 14 countries, as well as its recent expansion to ports. She presented certification as an evolving framework combining environmental performance indicators, independent verification and continuous improvement.

Daniel Dagenais, President and CEO of NEAS and recently appointed Chair of Green Marine International's Board of Directors, highlighted the value of exchanges between European and North American participants, particularly in sharing experiences and strengthening the programme's international recognition.

Testimonials from certified organisations illustrated how this approach translates into practical action.

SOCATRA highlighted the value of six consecutive certification cycles in supporting environmental performance improvements and innovation. CORSICA linea emphasised the importance of addressing a wide range of environmental impacts and involving both shore-based teams and crews in implementing environmental measures.

For LISNAVE, certification provides a structured approach to annual progress that complements regulatory requirements and ISO standards, helping the shipyard identify its priorities and demonstrate its achievements.

The Ports of Santander and Cartagena presented their respective environmental priorities, including shore power, climate change adaptation, biodiversity protection and cooperation with scientific stakeholders.

These examples demonstrated how a common certification framework can support continuous improvement across different maritime activities while taking their specific operational constraints into account.

From Discussion to Implementation

Several challenges emerged throughout the day: the deployment of new technologies depends on the availability of infrastructure and viable business models; environmental protection requires cooperation beyond individual initiatives; and circularity must be considered across the entire industrial lifecycle.

The discussions also showed that reliable data, financing mechanisms and regulatory frameworks are essential, but that progress ultimately depends on how these different elements are brought together in practice.

Green Shipping Day 2026 provided an opportunity to examine these challenges, share operational experience and identify the conditions needed for more effective environmental action.

The next edition of Green Shipping Day will take place on 20 October 2027 at the Port of Bilbao, Spain.

To explore the discussions from the two afternoon workshops in greater detail, read our articles on underwater noise and the risk of vessel collisions with cetaceans, and on the resilience of ports and their infrastructure.

Picture : Sam Glazier