Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CirclesOfLife (Enhancing material CIRCularity and Lower Emissions of Ship building processes in all phases of the LIFE cycle)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30
The CirclesOfLife project, funded under the EU Horizon Europe program, aims to enhance material circularity and reduce emissions across all non-operational phases of the shipbuilding lifecycle. Central to this initiative is the development of the Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI), the Ship Lifecycle Passport (SLP), and the Ship Circular Materials Passport (SCMP). The methodology, framework and support tools are designed to enable shipyards in transitioning toward a zero-emission future while aligning with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
The growing public awareness of the climate change and the increasing demand for greener lifestyles are pushing shipping companies to adopt environmentally friendly vessels. This shift is not only influencing consumer behavior but also raising the need for transparency and proof of sustainability within the maritime industry. This societal need is increasingly translated into policies; strict international regulations, such as the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index, SEEMP, and Carbon Intensity Indicator, along with EU initiatives like the Fit for 55 package and CSRD sustainability reporting, are enforcing reduced emissions and greater environmental accountability from shipyards and shipping companies. These regulations are reshaping market conditions and financing risks, necessitating evidence of future-proof shipping in all it's facets.
Traditionally the focus on impact reduction of shipping is on the operational emissions as a result of fuel and energy consumption. As operational emissions decrease, the focus is shifting towards the lifecycle impacts from production, maintenance, and end-of-life phases. Shipyards are facing increasing complexity in tracking environmental footprints due to the vast number of ship components and materials. The implementation of robust ERP and PLM systems, along with integration with life cycle assessment tools, is essential. However, the current data maturity and system readiness vary widely across European shipyards and there is no unified way of translating shipyard impact to individual ships to allow transparent reporting of non-operational impacts of shipping.
The project aims to redefine shipyard environmental assessment by developing and implementing the Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI) and Ship Lifecycle Passport (SLP) and the Ship Circular Material Passport (SCMP). This approach will make the environmental impact of all ship lifecycle phases measurable, enabling benchmarking and improvement for European shipyards and ship owners. A consortium of shipyards, technology providers, and NGOs will collaborate to design a robust methodology, supported by smart software that integrates with existing IT systems. The project will test and validate the SEPI, SLP and SCMP concepts in real-world shipyard environments, ensuring wide applicability and acceptance in the maritime sector. NGOs and network organizations will play a key role in promoting adoption across the industry.
The growing public awareness of the climate change and the increasing demand for greener lifestyles are pushing shipping companies to adopt environmentally friendly vessels. This shift is not only influencing consumer behavior but also raising the need for transparency and proof of sustainability within the maritime industry. This societal need is increasingly translated into policies; strict international regulations, such as the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index, SEEMP, and Carbon Intensity Indicator, along with EU initiatives like the Fit for 55 package and CSRD sustainability reporting, are enforcing reduced emissions and greater environmental accountability from shipyards and shipping companies. These regulations are reshaping market conditions and financing risks, necessitating evidence of future-proof shipping in all it's facets.
Traditionally the focus on impact reduction of shipping is on the operational emissions as a result of fuel and energy consumption. As operational emissions decrease, the focus is shifting towards the lifecycle impacts from production, maintenance, and end-of-life phases. Shipyards are facing increasing complexity in tracking environmental footprints due to the vast number of ship components and materials. The implementation of robust ERP and PLM systems, along with integration with life cycle assessment tools, is essential. However, the current data maturity and system readiness vary widely across European shipyards and there is no unified way of translating shipyard impact to individual ships to allow transparent reporting of non-operational impacts of shipping.
The project aims to redefine shipyard environmental assessment by developing and implementing the Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI) and Ship Lifecycle Passport (SLP) and the Ship Circular Material Passport (SCMP). This approach will make the environmental impact of all ship lifecycle phases measurable, enabling benchmarking and improvement for European shipyards and ship owners. A consortium of shipyards, technology providers, and NGOs will collaborate to design a robust methodology, supported by smart software that integrates with existing IT systems. The project will test and validate the SEPI, SLP and SCMP concepts in real-world shipyard environments, ensuring wide applicability and acceptance in the maritime sector. NGOs and network organizations will play a key role in promoting adoption across the industry.
WP1 focused on defining and developing the Shipyard Environmental Performance Index (SEPI) measurement system. Key deliverables included benchmarking environmental regulations and standards, creating user stories to verify requirements, and establishing a KPI-based scoring system to assess yard consumption, emissions, and pollution. A generic digital shipyard model was developed to structure environmental data measurement, incorporating business process modelling to support SEPI scoring and compatibility with yard systems. This framework now underpins subsequent work packages, with results documented and internal deliverables submitted.
WP2 built upon the framework established in WP1, and already started on specifying the calculation methods for SEPI using the developed digital yard model and identified KPIs. The concept specification has been completed and delivered and a good start is made with the actual programming of the tool, it is foreseen that quite soon the consortium will be able to test the first demonstration version of the tool.
WP3 applies the concepts and tools developed in earlier work packages through targeted case studies, each focusing on different shipyard processes. This is done by performing case-studies on new-build , repair- and conversion yards and recycling yards. The as-is process identification and impact measurements have been identified for 3 of the 4 case studies, and work is progressing on these case studies. For the 4th case study new candidate participants are approached to be incorporated in the consortium to proved a comprehensive and complete validation of the SEPI tool and best practice guides.
WP4 has identified stakeholder needs and business requirements for the development of the SLP and the SCMP, and has identified relevant KPI's and metrics to be reported in both SLP and SCMP. This is largely based on other European initiatives that are not industry specific but offer great potential to align with the needs that are addressed in CirclesOfLife, such as CIRPASS, ESRS, DPP etc. Design of the digital SLP content and framework, including the SCMP is largely complete, including alignment and maintenance with lifecycle phases. Data management of the passports, including input data, is currently under discussion with BV, to establish who will collect and maintain the passport repository, aligned with EU DPP regulation.
WP2 built upon the framework established in WP1, and already started on specifying the calculation methods for SEPI using the developed digital yard model and identified KPIs. The concept specification has been completed and delivered and a good start is made with the actual programming of the tool, it is foreseen that quite soon the consortium will be able to test the first demonstration version of the tool.
WP3 applies the concepts and tools developed in earlier work packages through targeted case studies, each focusing on different shipyard processes. This is done by performing case-studies on new-build , repair- and conversion yards and recycling yards. The as-is process identification and impact measurements have been identified for 3 of the 4 case studies, and work is progressing on these case studies. For the 4th case study new candidate participants are approached to be incorporated in the consortium to proved a comprehensive and complete validation of the SEPI tool and best practice guides.
WP4 has identified stakeholder needs and business requirements for the development of the SLP and the SCMP, and has identified relevant KPI's and metrics to be reported in both SLP and SCMP. This is largely based on other European initiatives that are not industry specific but offer great potential to align with the needs that are addressed in CirclesOfLife, such as CIRPASS, ESRS, DPP etc. Design of the digital SLP content and framework, including the SCMP is largely complete, including alignment and maintenance with lifecycle phases. Data management of the passports, including input data, is currently under discussion with BV, to establish who will collect and maintain the passport repository, aligned with EU DPP regulation.
CirclesOfLife will go beyond state of the art by defining a scientifically sound SEPI methodology and SLP and SCMP ship passport in close collaboration with shipyards and suppliers and will test and validate its applicability in the day-to-day business of shipyards in several case studies, ranging from new building to end-of-life yards. To this end, an interoperable software module will be developed, supporting the integration into existing shipyards’ IT infrastructure, and easing the data flow when performing SEPI analyses. Moreover, CirclesOfLife follows a clear pathway towards market introduction, coordinated by SURF as an independent and trustworthy organisation. Based on the described measures, CirclesOfLife pursues to offer a widely accepted standard enabling shipyards, maritime equipment manufacturers, shipping companies, financial institutions and other stakeholders to compare the environmental footprint of the complete lifecycle of a ship.