The Royal Yacht Association （RYA） announces a zero-carbon plan for leisure yachts by 2050

The Royal Yacht Association (RYA) has announced its vision to enable the British leisure yacht industry to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The association consulted academics, government consultants and manufacturers before publishing its "Road to Zero Carbon" document.

Strategies includes support to reduce the carbon emissions of ship engines by 50% by 2030 and achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Decarbonization of leisure yacht propulsion systems is mainly focused on new projects. In the new construction of “introduce exciting innovative technologies and optimize the design”, including the electric drive engines for hybrid energy storage, mainly on batteries And hydrogen fuel cell.

But RYA admits the "biggest challenge" will be the existing fleet, as well as a wide range of boats, which have different requirements for power system and sailing range.

And such diversity leads to no single solution can meet the needs of all users.

The association also acknowledged that understanding how boats are used is the key to solving the problem of adopting new clean technologies.

During the transition period, RYA will encourage yachts, small non-planing boats and inland waterway vessels to use biofuels, hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) and then switch to electric engines by 2030. It is also envisaged that the use of hydrogen fuel cells will be expanded after 2030.

For small high-speed boats, the transition to battery-electric outboard motors should be "straightforward." From 2030, hydrogen internal combustion engines may be used to meet longer range and higher power requirements.

In the short term, HVO and other biofuels are also recommended for large and long-range power boats, using hydrogen fuel cells with electric drive or hybrid hydrogen internal combustion engines with battery storage as long-term solutions.

RYA’s sailing activities and its operations have also been proposed for revolutions. They hopes to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions from its own facilities by 2030.

Initiatives include encouraging using public transportation, banning all internal flights within the UK, replacing all lights at RYA headquarters and RYA Portland House with led lights, and continue meeting online.

RYA also plans to change its series of boat competitions that it focused on. To provide support for occasional national events with more regional events and maximize the use of public transportation and other measures.

In order to help the British sailing team achieve a 50% reduction in emissions and net zero emissions by 2030, RYA will investigate all travel methods to European training spots, reduce air transportation by 25%, introduce electric propulsion systems on coach boats and safety boats, improving vessel maintenance to reduce the demand for new vessels and other measures.

RYA will also declare a climate emergency and use its channels to achieve its carbon emission reduction targets.

Commenting on the release of the "Road to Zero Carbon" report, Phil Horton, RYA's Environment and Sustainability Manager, said: "The development of this report follows extensive industry research, sustainability forecast analysis, and cooperation with RYA members and maritime affairs. Corporate conversation.
"In addition to addressing our own operational impacts, we believe that RYA can help mitigate the long-term environmental impact of leisure boats, which is essential to protect our sports." Solving these problems will bring about boaters There are many benefits, not just the reduction of carbon emissions, such as reduced noise, better mobility and responsiveness, lower maintenance costs and zero pollution. "

The report outlines the key areas that we believe need to be changed, and many of the actions included will be relatively easy solutions. However, other actions will require investment, whether it is time or money.

“RYA interacts directly or indirectly with an estimated 250,000 leisure boaters every year, so one of our goals is to allow these boaters and the wider yachting community to share and adopt the behavioral changes that occur in RYA,” he added.

Source：Boatfamily