Interview with Antidia Citores, General Manager of Green Marine Europe

Antidia has been Green Marine Europe's General Manager since February 2025. In this role, she acts as GME spokesperson and coordinates the strategic and operational development of the European environmental certification program, working closely with Green Marine International. She ensures institutional representation, oversees the certification rollout in Europe, and supports participants in their progress in terms of the maritime sector’s transitional challenges.

You recently assumed leadership of Green Marine Europe. Can you tell us about your background and what led you to this position?

A strong conviction has guided my career path: to advance sustainable development within the maritime transport sector. My CIFRE doctoral thesis (Industrial Agreements for Training through Research), completed at Surfrider Europe, focused on how stakeholders contribute to developing maritime environmental standards. It helped me understand that co-construction is essential to evolving national, European, and international regulatory frameworks.

I then applied this expertise to advocacy, creating and leading Surfrider Europe’s lobbying team. With them, and in coalition with other NGOs, we achieved significant international progress: including the Ocean in the preamble to the Paris Agreement (COP 21), the European ban on single-use plastics, and advancements at the IMO (International Maritime Organization) on maritime safety. This work led me to join the European Commission’s Mission Ocean Board, chaired by Pascal Lamy.

Faced with the environmental emergency, I also needed to strengthen business dialogue to accelerate concrete action on the ground. This is how I helped to create Green Marine Europe, initially incubated by Surfrider Europe under a license from Green Marine. After serving as project manager, I am now its Executive Director within the Green Marine International team. This voluntary programme is an effective and measurable lever for improving the environmental performance of maritime transport while also meeting funders’ expectations in terms of sustainability.

My mission today is to take this ambition to the European level, develop strategic partnerships, secure funding, and lead high-impact projects. With the experience we’ve gained in Europe, the next step will be to offer a similar model on other continents through the Green Marine International network.

How does your background shape your approach to Green Marine Europe?

The idea of creating an environmental certification for the maritime industry in Europe stemmed from a simple observation: when buying a bar of chocolate, for example, we’re usually given plenty of information about the ingredients’ origin, how they were farmed, whether they’re organic or not—but we rarely know anything about how that bar got from the production site to our kitchen. That’s where our motivation comes from: to offer insight into the environmental performance of maritime transport and to make this information more visible to stakeholders—including consumers—so they can make more informed choices.

This whole thought process led us to adapt the Green Marine framework for Europe, which supports the maritime industry on a path of continuous environmental improvement with full transparency.

How would you describe Green Marine Europe today?

In just over five years, Green Marine Europe has built a genuine community of over 75 members (participants, associations, supporters, partners) from 10 countries, including nearly 30 certified participants.

An impact assessment carried out in 2024 among companies involved in the certification process demonstrated the dual relevance of GME, particularly for executive management, technical, QHSSE, and CSR departments. It acts as a strategic management tool for environmental transition, internally and externally, and as a key driver of employee engagement around environmental issues.

By facilitating the monitoring of environmental action plans, Green Marine Europe enhances its clarity and credibility with both internal and external stakeholders through visible, concrete results and corrective actions.

What are the main challenges the program faces?

Green Marine Europe operates within a multi-sectoral ecosystem, intersecting many professions and business models, and within a multicultural European context where environmental legislation constantly evolves. Our ambition is to provide a commitment framework that can adapt to the diversity of maritime sectors and businesses of all sizes—from the smallest to the largest.

To counter the ever-present risk of greenwashing, we promote an innovative, transparent, and rigorous approach that ensures credibility. Beyond certification, we are building a strong, committed community united by a common goal: accelerating the environmental transition of maritime transport. By expanding our network of members and affirming our model, we also aim to inspire other continents.

What are your priorities for the next three years, and how do you plan to strengthen the impact and visibility of Green Marine Europe?

Green Marine Europe is gaining increasing recognition in Europe, and our priorities aim to reinforce its impact and visibility on several fronts.

Firstly, by opening the program to ports—with the aim of certifying the first ones by 2026—we are completing the maritime ecosystem to address the entire value chain. This extension to ports also seeks to incorporate inland waterway transport, a strategic focus for Europe.

Secondly, by engaging investors and green finance, we are providing a credible framework for understanding green shipping to guide responsible investment. This is a key theme for our active presence at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC 3), notably at the Blue Economy Finance Forum in June 2025.

We also aim to grow our community of members by engaging with civil society and institutional actors to strengthen our legitimacy. Our active participation in European consortia, such as CirclesOfLife (which aims to reduce the environmental impact of Europe’s shipbuilding industry), will help expand our stakeholder network.

Finally, we will attend major European and international events in the coming months, such as Interferry in Sorrento.

In your view, what are the significant challenges facing the sector?

Maritime transport accounts for 90% of global trade and plays a pivotal role in the environmental transition. Transforming it means contributing to profound societal change.

To speed up its decarbonisation, we need coordinated action: eco-design, speed reduction, routing, hybrid propulsion systems, optimised usage… There is no miracle solution, only a combination of aligned strategies.

Many obstacles remain: financial constraints, low prioritisation of CSR issues, the need to anticipate regulations related to the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), and the difficulty of navigating through available solutions. That’s where structured initiatives like Green Marine Europe come in.

Green Marine Europe offers a demanding and evolving certification scheme. How can this high level of ambition be maintained over time?

Green Marine Europe is built on "beyond compliance" indicators, which are regularly revised in consultation with stakeholders. Adding new criteria, active regulatory monitoring, and continuous engagement with the sector, all help ensure credibility and ambition.

To win over new actors, we highlight the tangible benefits of certification: visibility, credibility, structured monitoring, and continuous improvement. Above all, we say: join a committed community—before being forced by regulations. Customers, passengers, and investors are already sensitive to these issues and will become even more so.

This logic of openness and synergies is why we are strengthening our ties with investors and international networks such as AIVP (International Association Cities & Ports). In addition to the new participant categories mentioned earlier (seaports, inland waterway operators), we will soon be strengthening our environmental indicators. In autumn 2025, a working group will be launched on the "Surface treatments and coatings" indicator for shipyards. We also hope to use the CirclesOfLife consortium’s work to develop a “Ship life cycle” indicator for shipyards. And why not extend our framework to include social and societal indicators, too?