We protect best what we know best
For more than 30 years, PONANT has been taking passengers to the planet's most secret places where nature reigns supreme. Making this choice means we have responsibilities towards the ecosystems and communities that live there.
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Our 2021 Sustainable Development Report
The environment
Stopping the use of heavy fuel oil, removing single-use plastics, carrying out environmental impact studies... we have implemented a series of measures designed to decrease our environmental footprint in the regions that we visit.
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People
For 30 years, we have taken passengers to discover rare destinations and to meet the populations that have lived there for centuries. So, our itineraries are planned out in consultation with the local authorities and we make our crew, naturalist guides and passengers aware of good practices to adopt in the communities in which they will be staying.
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Our everyday actions
Our commitment translates to concrete everyday actions, particularly in terms of the controlled and responsible approach we adopt towards what we use and consume onboard our ships, and also in terms of supporting research, awareness-raising and conversation projects around the world.
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Established in 2018, the PONANT Foundation's goal is to conserve the oceans and poles and to promote exchanges between populations. In order to do this, we commit to supporting innovative initiatives led by researches, NGO, start-ups or businesses working to preserve oceans, build scientific knowledge about the polar regions and interact with indigenous populations.
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The environment
The main sustainable development focus, environmental conservation, is one of our priorities. Our actions are structured around 5 strategic commitments.
1. Consider the whole world as a “controlled sulphur and nitrogen oxide emission zone”
In 2019, PONANT became the first cruise line to abandon the use of fuel oil and switch instead to Low Sulfur Marine Gasoil (LSMGO) with a 0.05% sulphur content. This is 10 times lower than the maximum allowed by current maritime regulations. A measure awarded the French Prix des Palmes du Tourisme Durable 2020 prize in the "Travel" category.
The ships of the PONANT EXPLORERS series achieve a 90% reduction in their nitrogen oxide emissions by having their catalytic convertors operating 24 hours a day in all geographical areas. A globally unique approach that has set the standard for the entire industry.
The environment at the heart of Le Commandant Charcot design
Inaugurated in 2021, the hybrid electric polar exploration ship, which runs on liquefied natural gas (LNG), is fitted with the most advanced environmental technology. Le Commandant Charcot is designed to optimise energy consumption, water treatment and waste management.
Benefits of LNG:
-25% reduction in carbon emissions
-85% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions
-95% reduction in fine particle emissions
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2. Reduce our CO2 emissions
PONANT has taken significant steps to reduce its atmospheric emissions across the board in terms of fuel consumption:
- Optimisation of the daily speed: his relatively low speed means we can expect to reduce our fuel consumption by 30%.
- Digital navigation aids and weather routers to improve the energy efficiency of the ships
- Fitting of ships with electric connections together with the use of shore-to-ship power when docked at suitably equipped ports.
- Development of the hybridity of its ships: fitting of batteries to enable generators to be switched off at dock, at anchor and when in proximity to inhabited areas, use of synthetic fuels like e-LNG.
CLEANSHIP certification label
All the ships in our fleet carry the Bureau Veritas CLEANSHIP certification label, which attests to reduced environmental impact. Equipped with generator-powered electric propulsion motors, our ships have achieved the Comfort 1 rating, which is the best level possible in terms of low noise and vibration levels, thus ensuring the comfort of our passengers and respect for underwater wildlife.
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3. Completely eliminate single use plastics
As has been implemented on the expedition ship, Le Commandant Charcot, PONANT is rolling out its “Zero Plastic” policy on all its ships.
Key to this measure is a ban on single use plastic water bottles across the fleet, thanks to the installation of systems to produce drinking water from seawater. This amounts to a saving on usage of nearly a million single use plastic water bottles, that’s over 30 tonnes of plastic, a year.
Distribution of metal refillable water gourds is not only reducing plastic waste but helping raise awareness among passengers of the issue.
Environmental impact studies
With each new itinerary, we carry out environmental impact studies.
This protocol means we can analyse the potential impact on the ecosystem we are visiting and keep it to a minimum: historical inventory, flora and fauna study, meetings with local people, selecting possible passenger activities while ensuring they are environmentally respectful.
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4. Ensure reuse and traceability of all waste
As well as actions taken on board, the company works collaboratively with all service providers and ports to ensure recyclable waste like cardboard, tin cans and packaging are being recycled and reused.
The company has conducted a pilot project with the Port of Ushuaia to ensure the selective sorting and recovery of each category of waste.
5. Embark scientific research teams aboard the high polar exploration ship, Le Commandant Charcot
The latest addition to the PONANT fleet has two research laboratories and autonomous measurement instruments.
Several long-term scientific partners enable teams of researchers – such as biologists, geographers, oceanographers, climatologists and ethnologists – to work in polar regions on a repeat basis in places that are either still unexplored or rarely visited, allowing them to extend their polar campaigns.
Ecosystem-friendly landing protocols
Our approach is also based on a carefully considered choice of itineraries, the drafting of a specific environmental brief for each sensitive region or area, a code of conduct for passengers, and of course, a zero tolerance policy regarding the impact we leave behind when we travel through an area.
PONANT is a member of IAATO (the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) and AECO, (the International Association of Expedition Cruise Operators for Responsible, Environmentally Friendly and Safe Tourism), two organisations responsible for regulating tourism activities in Antarctica and the Arctic. Our itineraries and protocols in the polar regions are designed in accordance with the directives issued by these organisations, which stipulate the maximum number of passengers allowed to disembark and the specific conduct to be followed (i.e. maximum wildlife approach distances; briefings for passengers, crew and expedition personnel; the level of Antarctic experience of expedition personnel; and emergency and medical evacuation plans).
People
Committing to a more sustainable tourism involves paying the utmost consideration to the human dimension of our work as well as environmental considerations. For each cruise, we take into account the local population and authorities and ensure our crew members are trained and that we have raised awareness among passengers.
We plan out itineraries in consultation with local stakeholders: politics, authorities, national parks and nature reserves, Aboriginal councils, NGOs, scientific teams, rescue teams, etc. We therefore ensure that we avoid mistakes relating to local habits and customs and that we fully respect the places we visit.
Our Expedition cruises
We design each of our Expedition cruises in close consultation with local people. We consult specialist ethnologists so that we can work to ensure communities are key players in developing touristic practices. They are the ones that decide what they want to share about their customs and their environment. Because they are involved, local people are no longer seen to play a passive role in tourism.
One of our greatest wishes is to contribute towards the social and economic development of the regions we visit. In order to increase our commitment towards local communities, we are building useful partnerships with them. In particular, the PONANT Foundation is supporting FabLab, an organisation based in Upernavik in Greenland. Its objective is to train Inuit craftspeople to reproduce traditional items so that they can then be sold in European museums.
A school in the Bijagos (Guinea-Bissau)
The encounter with this exceptional territory, classified as a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and its inhabitants during our scouting and expedition cruises, gave rise to an exceptional collaboration between the local association ESCAMA Foundation and the PONANT Foundation: we are providing financial support for the reconstruction of a school in the village of Anipoc, on the island of Caravela, which will be able to accommodate about a hundred pupils from kindergarten to primary school, and will also offer literacy courses for adults.
All of our passengers and crew members agree to respect a Code of Conduct which is put together following our research and is specific to each location.
During our Expedition cruises, our passengers are accompanied by our expert naturalist guides who have been trained to respect the places we visit.
Our everyday actions
Our commitment translates to concrete everyday actions, particularly in terms of the controlled and responsible approach we adopt towards what we use and consume onboard our ships, and also in terms of supporting research, awareness-raising and conversation projects around the world.
Procurement of supplies through local distribution channels
The elimination of single-use plastics
PONANT was one of the first companies to sign up to the Southern Region's "Zero Plastic Waste" charter.
By signing this charter, PONANT is committed to:
- actively contributing to the awareness of plastic waste reduction,
- implementing the prudent use of plastics,
- participating in the management and recycling of plastic waste.
PONANT also committed to following the recommendations of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, a United Nations programme aimed at encouraging concrete action in the fight against plastic pollution in the tourism sector. Echoing the measures already introduced on Le Commandant Charcot, PONANT has set itself the objective of banning the use of single use plastics across its entire fleet from 2022 onwards.
On board, PONANT has prohibited the use of plastics in drinking straws, laundry bags, cups and single-serving food portions. Packaging is removed at our depots. As part of measures to stop the use of plastic bottles on all our ships, we provide our cruise passengers with stainless-steel flasks that can be filled at water fountains available on board, thus reducing the number of plastic bottles used by 10 bottles per passenger per ship.
The Nordaq system on Le Commandant Charcot enables us to bottle drinking water produced on board in reusable glass bottles.
PONANT has stopped using single-use plastics at its head offices. Every member of staff has been issued with a reusable water bottle and a reusable cup. Recycling bins for plastic, paper and general waste are available on each floor. Sixty-one percent of the plastic bottles and cans thrown away at our head offices are now recycled. These measures resulted in a one tonne reduction in the amount of plastic used in the first year they were introduced. The waste produced is collected for recycling by ELISE, a local company with a socially responsible ethos.
We are continuing to look at alternative and innovative ways of both reducing the use of plastics on board our ships and in our offices and recycling and making the best use of any plastics we do use.
Cleaning of beaches
PONANT regularly organises beach cleaning exercises, both in Marseille, in partnership with the Pure Ocean Foundation as part of the "Engagé pour la nature" programme operated by France's Ministry of Ecological Transition and the country's national biodiversity agency, and on Water Cay, a small island of the Utila archipelago in Honduras. Our crew members put their spare time and energy to good use by organising a waste clean-up operation, with all the rubbish collected taken away and sorted on board the ship.
For five weeks, volunteers from Queens' College and the Seychelles Islands Foundation took part in an operation to clean the Aldabra Atoll, which had experienced a considerable build up of plastic waste over recent years. Interview with project instigator Lindsay Turnbull.
Procurement of supplies through local distribution channels
PONANT's very carefully chosen and selected food and drink products are sourced from suppliers compliant with the requirements of ISO standards 22000 and 14001 governing food safety and the environment. PONANT pays close attention to meat origin and animal welfare.
Optimal waste-water treatment processes
The ships are each equipped with a submerged membrane bioreactor: a complete waste-water desalination and treatment system. This biodegradation process works without the use of chemical products. It provides clean water and is compliant with the highest quality standards. The quality of the water obtained means that no chlorination or any other chemical treatment is required. The purity of the water produced enables it to be used onboard, particularly for supplying the laundry rooms.
Not only does PONANT manage black-water discharges, but it also manages grey-water discharges (water from showers, sinks and kitchens) and treats ballast water to ensure no living organisms are either uptaken or discharged.
Sciences
Scientists specialising in fields as diverse as palaeoclimatology, marine biology, microbiology and oceanography conduct experiments on board our fleet and collect data as part of international research programmes aimed at developing a better understanding of marine ecosystems and better ways of protecting them.
In particular, and together with the organisation Conservation International, the PONANT Foundation is conducting a study of the behaviour of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere and taking action to protect the coral reefs of New Caledonia.
Interview with Herbert Lust, spokesperson for Conservation International.
The PONANT Foundation is also supporting the Pure Ocean Foundation, which finances and promotes a range of innovative scientific studies focused on developing sustainable ways of preserving and protecting the oceans.
Interview with David Sussman founder and president of the Pure Ocean Foundation.
A ship of scientific opportunity, Le Commandant Charcot is equipped with its own laboratories and hosts specialist researchers in glaciology, oceanography, marine biology, climatology, and social sciences and humanities on board. It provides a unique opportunity for collecting scientific data on a regular basis, data that can then be used to develop a better understanding of these fragile ecosystems and better ways of preserving and protecting them.
"Giving science a place on board our ships is an integral part of our DNA."
Wassim Daoud, head of sustainability and CSR at PONANT.
Making good use of waste
Onboard the ships, 60% of packing is recycled, whereas the rate across the world is just 20%. The rest is completely tracked and traced.
PONANT is actively working to optimise the ways in which the waste it produces is managed on land and has compactors available onboard for each type of waste. This makes it possible to optimise both the storage volumes onboard and the unloading process at ports.
PONANT is committed to a policy of leaving zero plastic waste behind in the natural environment.
Because Le Commandant Charcot sails to particularly remote and isolated regions, the ship is equipped with twice as much storage capacity as the other ships in the fleet, thus ensuring the waste can be disposed of at ports equipped with the infrastructure required to recycle it. At Svalbard in the Arctic, our dry waste (cardboard containers and packaging) is collected and used to produce energy.
The PONANT Foundation has been supporting the Garrahan Foundation in Ushuaïa since 2020 by donating the recyclable waste produced on our Arctic cruises to it on the return leg of each voyage. The association then uses this waste to generate funds for Garrahan paediatric hospital.
Conserving biodiversity
Our ships are equipped with seabed detectors. In areas known to be frequented by marine animals we reduce the speed of our ships to 10 knots. Naturalistguides are available on the bridge with the officers to detect the presence of animals.
Our fleet is among the quietest in the world. We take the utmost care to cause as little underwater disturbance to wildlife as possible.
The antifouling treatment of ships’ keelsons prevents the accumulation of microorganisms on the hull and their transport to areas where they could upset the ecosystem. This treatment is carried out using approved and certified paints.
Le Commandant Charcot, a hybrid-electric extreme polar exploration ship powered by liquified natural gas (LNG), is able to switch to electric mode to ensure quiet, zero-emission navigation through protected regions.
We use an electronic dynamic positioning system for ships without anchoring. This enables us to not drop anchor in sensitive areas.
Energy saving measures
- Navigation software to reduce fuel consumption.
- LED light bulbs: responsible for a 75% reduction in the amount of electricity used for lighting the ships.
- A central heating system fed by recuperating the heat generated by the exhaust gases emitted by the engine cooling system.
- A seawater-based cooling system for the ships.
- Crew members trained to minimise energy consumption by switching lights off, turning taps off and other similar measures – simple but important steps to take when considered in terms of the scale and size of a ship.
Circular economy
PONANT supports and participates in the circular economy by donating furniture and equipment it no longer needs to local organisations so they can be given a second life and reused.
Eco-responsible brochures
To reduce the environmental impact of our brochures, we have adopted good practices:
- Printing on 100% recycled paper
- Replacing plastic film with 100% recycled card envelopes
- Optimising distribution of promotional material by being alert to each customers’ needs
- Sending obsolete materials to a recycling centre to be transformed and reused