A single superyacht trip across the Atlantic cost Patrick Dovigi almost half a million dollars in fuel.
The superyacht named Breakthrough was commissioned by Bill Gates and touted as the world's first hydrogen fuel cell-powered vessel. However, despite its claims to be more eco-friendly, it still requires full diesel tanks to run, according to reporting by Luxury Launches.
Canadian ex-hockey player Patrick Dovigi is thought to be the new owner, who recently spent $435,000 on 605,000 liters of diesel-blend to power the ship. Perhaps, considering he spent over $650 million on the yacht itself, this is only pocket change to the billionaire.
However, this is a blatant example of greenwashing. While the ship may be marginally less harmful than its non-hybrid counterparts, it still releases astronomical amounts of pollution. As stated in the Guardian, "owning a megayacht is the most polluting activity a single person can possibly engage in."
Oxfam found that superyacht production has doubled since 2000, with 150 of these mega-polluters built each year. On average, one superyacht releases 6,252 tons of pollution each year. It would take an average person 860 years to release this same amount.
It's only the megawealthy who can afford to drift around the ocean in these extravagant displays of excess. Billionaires release a million times more pollution than a regular person, and the world's wealthiest 10% have caused two-thirds of human-driven rising global temperatures.
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Regulation of these deeply harmful vessels needs to be tightened. Currently, superyachts are exempt from International Maritime Organization emissions rules as well as EU carbon pricing.
Luxury Launches commented, "For a yacht that moonlights as a hydrogen hybrid demonstrator, it was a reminder that chemistry breakthroughs do not erase the realities of global range quite yet."
It continued, "Even experimental propulsion projects still rely on staggering amounts of hydrocarbon fuel when traveling long distances."
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