Ponant Explorations published its 2025 Sustainability Report, highlighting a year of progress toward more responsible exploration, both onboard and ashore.

The company underlined the increase of waste recovery rate from 13 percent in 2023 to 49 percent in 2025 as one of the key achievements, made possible thanks to strengthened waste management practices and partnerships with local organizations.

The 2025 report details progress in each of the areas the group defines as key; from decarbonizing the fleet and supporting scientific research to strengthening the bonds forged with local communities encountered during exploration voyages.

Today, 100 percent of waste is sorted onboard, with materials recycled, reused or recovered for energy wherever possible, the company noted.

With nearly 24 tons of single-use plastic eliminated in 2025, the recycling rate is moving towards the 50 percent target set for 2026.

“Enhancing waste recovery is a key driver in reducing the environmental impact of our operations and helping to preserve the ecosystems we visit. We have set ourselves ambitious targets to reduce the volume of waste sent to landfill, promote the recycling of materials and support local waste management and treatment networks,” said Wassim Daoud, head of CSR and sustainability at Ponant Explorations.

“Achieving these objectives depends on our ability to bring together those working on the ground to roll out reliable tools and scalable solutions.”

The company has been working with Bureau Veritas since 2024 to carry out a series of waste assessments at the ten ports of call that account for half of the waste unloaded each year across the fleet’s 150 ports of call.

These are Papeete, Athens, Venice, Nice, Longyearbyen, Glasgow, Broome, Darwin, Fort-de-France and Valletta, and the initiative was also carried out in Ushuaia and Reykjavik, outside the partnership.

The aim was to analyze the entire waste chain, from collection and sorting to transport and treatment to help identify gaps and opportunities to improve waste management, resulting in a waste recovery rate increase from 13 percent in 2023 to 49 percent in 2025.

A clear example of this progress is seen in Papeete, where the Paul Gauguin calls at more than 50 times a year.

A review conducted with Bureau Veritas found that some waste sorted onboard was later mixed and sent to landfill, so the group brought together stakeholders across Papeete’s waste management chain to address the issue.

As a result, the recycling rate for waste unloaded in Papeete increased from 0 percent in 2025 to 60 percent in 2026.

Another example was the June 2025 partnership with Greece’s Antipollution to assess waste management practices onboard and during port calls by Le Dumont d’Urville to identify areas for improvement to enhance the efficiency of sorting and the quality of onshore processing facilities, among other things.

This collaboration led to the development of framework documents and onboard training programs that will form the basis for a fleet-wide roll-out and the development of standardized monitoring and training tools, according to Ponant.