Announcing Gurit, MobyFly and nlcomp - home of rComposite® as the 2026 MarineShift360 Impact Accelerator cohort.
Chosen from 20 applicants spanning 10 countries, the cohort represents the full lifecycle of marine sustainability, from the advanced materials that build vessels, to the propulsion systems that power them, to the end-of-life solutions that ensure they don’t become tomorrow’s waste.
Led by Marine Futures and supported by 11th Hour Racing, the Impact Accelerator is a year-long initiative equipping marine organisations with lifecycle assessment expertise, technical consultancy and access to an industry-wide sustainability network.
Results from the inaugural 2025 cohort have already reshaped how leading marine organisations design, procure and invest. RNLI identified the use phase as the dominant emissions driver for its Atlantic 85 lifeboat, overturning assumptions that production was the primary hotspot. BAR Technologies confirmed that its WindWings® system achieves carbon payback within months. Both organisations are now applying the findings to future design and product strategy.
Now entering its second year, the programme is scaling its ambition and extending that impact across the full vessel lifecycle.nlcomp - home of rComposite® was founded by competitive sailors who saw abandoned composite boats deteriorating in harbours with nowhere to go but landfill. The Italian company has since developed rComposite®, a DNV-validated, fully recyclable thermoplastic composite system using recycled carbon fibre and natural fibres. As part of the Impact Accelerator, nlcomp will build a lifecycle assessment framework to benchmark its composites against traditional thermoset materials, quantifying differences across global warming potential, landfill waste and material reuse.
MobyFly | Zero-Emission Hydrofoil Boats a Swiss-Portuguese technology company recognised as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, is developing zero-emission hydrofoil vessels for passenger transport. 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 lifecycle assessment of its 12-passenger S1 vessel, establishing a credible environmental baseline for the high-speed electric vessel category.
Gurit is one of the world's leading composite materials and engineering companies, serving marine, wind energy and aerospace industries from operations spanning four continents. Through the programme, Gurit will assess the lifecycle 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.
