Whitepaper
TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE BLUE ECONOMY
Jun. 24 2025
In his second book, Toward a Sustainable Blue Economy, Matthieu de Tugny, President Marine & Offshore, lays out his convictions on the path ahead to shape a better maritime world for all.
Much has changed since the beginning of the decade, yet the ocean remains the place where the world’s urgent needs and challenges intersect.
The maritime industry is making great strides in innovation for new low-carbon maritime technologies and fuels, but more than 90% of the world’s fleet still runs on polluting fuel oil. Emissions remain stubbornly high and decarbonization is expensive, costing between $8 to $28 billion annually, and up to $90 billion for infrastructure upgrades. Shipowners are hesitant to commit to current technological options when something better might be around the corner and any choice now will be locked in for up to 30 years.
Humanity relies on the ocean to flourish; for energy, resources and trade. Today, we face a daunting challenge: we must protect the ocean to protect the planet it sustains. And we must act fast.
Shifting the maritime status quo
To decarbonize the maritime world, we must therefore reimagine interconnected systems that have remained largely unchanged for decades.
Class societies, in their role as the connective tissue of the maritime industry, have a crucial role to play in this transformation. Together, serving this vital global industry, we must think big – collaborating across and beyond our sector – and execute with pragmatism – taking realistic, viable measures at ship level. Action must be taken today to lay the foundations for the blue economy of tomorrow.
Download Toward a Sustainable Blue Economy to explore the work that lies ahead for the maritime industry:
