MarineShift360 Impact Accelerator Announces 2026 Cohort of Leading Sustainable Marine Companies

Source (all images) | Marine Futures

Marine Futures (London, U.K.) has announced Gurit (Newport, U.K.) MobyFly (Port-Valais, Switzerland) and nlcomp (Monfalcone, Italy) as the three companies selected for the 2026 MarineShift360 Impact Accelerator Programme.

Read more about the MarineShift360 marine-centered LCA platform and related tools in “Life cycle assessment in the composites industry.”

Led by Marine Futures and supported by 11th Hour Racing, the Impact Accelerator, launched in 2024, is a year-long initiative equipping marine organizations with life cycle assessment (LCA) expertise, technical consultancy and access to an industry-wide sustainability network. 

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Chosen from 20 applicants spanning 10 countries, Marine Futures says this year’s cohort represents the full life cycle of marine sustainability, from the advanced materials that build vessels, to the propulsion systems that power them, to the end-of-life (EOL) solutions that ensure they don’t become tomorrow’s waste. 

This year’s cohort

Marine manufacturing using nlcomp materials

nlcomp was founded by competitive sailors who saw abandoned composite boats deteriorating in harbors with nowhere to go but landfill. The Italian company has since developed rComposite, a DNV-validated, fully recyclable thermoplastic composite system using recycled carbon fiber and natural fibers. As part of the Impact Accelerator, nlcomp will build an LCA framework to benchmark its composites against traditional thermoset materials, quantifying differences across global warming potential, landfill waste and material reuse. 

A Mobyfly zero-emission hydrofoil boat

MobyFly, a Swiss-Portuguese technology company recognized as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, is developing zero-emission hydrofoil vessels for passenger transport. The company claims its retractable foil system lifts the hull from the water at speed, cutting energy use by up to 80% compared to conventional diesel ferries. MobyFly will use the year-long partnership to produce a cradle-to-grave LCA of its 12-passenger S1 vessel, establishing a credible environmental baseline for the high-speed electric vessel category. 

Gurit is a global composite materials and engineering company serving marine, wind energy and aerospace industries from operations spanning four continents. Through the program, Gurit will assess the life cycle impact of key marine products, identify lower-impact material and design pathways, and embed LCA methodology into day-to-day engineering, with the long-term ambition of making environmental impact data a standard part of every client deliverable. 

Impacts from 2025 cohort

According to Marine Futures, results from the inaugural 2025 cohort have already reshaped how leading marine organizations design, procure and invest. 

RNLI, a charity that saves lives at sea, identified the use phase as the dominant emissions driver for its Atlantic 85 lifeboat, overturning assumptions that production was the primary hotspot. Wind propulsion company BAR Technologies confirmed that its WindWings system achieves carbon payback within months. Both organizations are now applying the findings to future design and product strategy. 

“Building on the momentum of last year’s program, the 2026 cohort is taking a full ecosystem approach to decarbonizing the marine industry,” says Ollie Taylor, director of Marine Futures. “It’s a joined-up effort to bring transparency and data-driven decision-making to the points that matter most: what we build with, how we power it and what happens when it reaches the end of its first life.” 

“What the marine sector increasingly needs is credible data to guide the transition ahead. The organizations in this year’s cohort are taking an important step by committing to transparent, science-aligned LCA of their products and processes,” says Jeremy Pochman, co-founder and CEO of 11th Hour Racing. “The insights generated through the Impact Accelerator will inform smarter design choices, investment decisions and innovation pathways across the wider marine industry. This is how meaningful, system-level change begins to take hold.”