After internal testing phases, training and feedback sessions with stakeholders, the CirclesOfLife software tool SEPI was introduced at SMM Hamburg to the maritime industry for their comments and further development into daily practice.
A visitor to the demonstration at SMM: ‘This SEPI tool is definitely a promising solution for the maritime sector to deliver proof of its environmental contribution, and to be able to compare the environmental footprints of shipyards of tenders.’
Becoming an important supporting tool for shipyards, the consortium partners Center of Maritime Technologies and BALance Technology Consulting, together with shipyards Damen, Meyer Werft, Meyer Turku, Nordic Circles, maritime supplier Eriks Nederland, University TUDelft and VTT Finland, have worked together on modelling case studies and real-life data to develop a software tool to score the Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI).
The tools are to become aligned and integrated with existing industry certifications and regulatory reporting requirements, especially Green Marine Europe and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), as well as the related European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
The tool is intended to support required data reporting and decision-making with a focus on sustainable shipbuilding processes. The industry is facing global challenges. This first version of the software tool is intended to support and guide organisations through the process: monitor and assess environmental impact of each shipbuilding procedure where to improve a business’s performance based on the baseline
Cherif Belgaroui, Jorinus Kalis, and Rosanne van Houwelingen set the purpose during the podcast Maritiem Inside at SMM:
“Transparency will be a commercial argument in the future. We have to learn and share now to overcome challenges. Reporting is a given, and every company can improve by making deliberate choices: comply and improve. Small and medium-sized enterprises may feel the regulatory pressure, so the consortium prepares tools including digital passports to help, guide, and show the potential for improvement. Deliberate decisions based on blueprints for ships, will become easier.”
