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Superyachts aim to go green — but at what cost?

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Victor Mallet

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

It is hard to think of a more visible manifestation of great wealth and excessive consumption than a superyacht, as Russian oligarchs have discovered to their cost, following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

As western governments began detaining these very obvious luxury assets at harbours and shipyards around the world in successive rounds of economic sanctions aimed at Moscow, the targeted billionaires directed crews to steer the vessels to safe havens such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean or Turkey in the Mediterranean. Roman Abramovich’s 163-metre Eclipse, one of the world’s largest superyachts and estimated to cost more than $1bn, found refuge in the Turkish port of Marmaris.

Long before the latest Ukraine war, however, the superyacht industry faced a problem unrelated to any support the ships’ wealthy owners may have provided to warmongering authoritarian regimes: their impact on the environment and the impression they gave that the rich could not care less about climate change.

Most superyachts — typically defined as a leisure vessel more than 30 metres or 100ft in length — are essentially motor vessels like small cruise liners, catering to proprietors or charterers and a few pampered guests. The biggest have helicopter pads, swimming pools and gyms as well as luxury suites. Some even have mini-submarines.

Very few are sailing yachts, and most of them consume vast quantities of diesel. Only now are manufacturers starting to develop new technologies such as hydrogen-powered electric propulsion that will cut emissions.

In the meantime, building the boats, operating them and, eventually, scrapping them all have a damaging effect on the environment. The same is true of aircraft and cars, but the very visibility of superyachts in tourist hotspots, makes their ecological footprint an increasingly sensitive topic. The global fleet has grown more than sixfold since 1985 to reach more than 5,200, according to Superyacht Times . And the fleet cruises the world’s vulnerable oceans.

“For sure, now it’s really high up the agenda — there’s been a fundamental shift,” says Monaco-based superyacht designer Espen Oeino, who reckons it is only in the past few years that most proprietors have really started to pay attention to yacht emissions. Clients ask him what can be done to reduce energy consumption onboard, both for propulsion and for the so-called “hotel load” of air-conditioning and other services, and even how to build the boat in the first place in a responsible way.

Rob Doyle, another naval architect who designs superyachts and is based in Kinsale in Ireland, agrees that more owners are beginning to take notice of the need to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment, though many are still concerned about the cost. “There is still a huge amount of greenwashing,” he says. “You look at the magazines and you’ll never see a bad superyacht.”

And bad they often are. Research by anthropologists Beatriz Barros and Richard Wilk of Indiana University into the carbon footprints of the super-rich found that yachts contributed an outsized share of the carbon emissions of the billionaires who own them — far more than their private jets or mansions.

For former Chelsea Football Club owner Abramovich, for example, of the 31,200 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent he is calculated to have emitted in 2018, no less than 22,400 tonnes came from his yachts. Yacht emissions for Bernard Arnault, owner of LVMH and France’s richest man, accounted for nearly 9,000 tonnes of his total of 10,400 tonnes.

There are other ways for the wealthy to be embarrassed by their superyachts. Dutch shipyard Oceanco is facing resistance from angry locals after asking the city of Rotterdam to temporarily dismantle the old Koningshaven Bridge so that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s new three-masted vessel — this one is a sailing yacht costing hundreds of millions of dollars — can reach the port and the open sea.

But the impact on the climate is still the environmental whale in the room for yacht owners, builders and designers: Bill Gates and Elon Musk are both big carbon emitters, but their 2018 numbers were much lower than those of their fellow billionaires because they did not have yachts, the Barros-Wilk paper showed.

The accelerating effort to green superyachts reflects similar moves in the aircraft and vehicle industries to adopt new technologies and systems that help to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions and other pollution.

For superyacht designers and builders, the process starts with the shape of the hull or hulls, because there are few things so wasteful of energy as pushing a heavy metal or composite vessel through a fluid as dense as water. For both Oeino and Doyle, this search for what Oeino calls the “geometry of an easily driven hull” means looking at multihulls (catamarans or trimarans) for the next generation of big yachts, because they are designed to skim along the surface of the sea rather than laboriously plough through it, even if there are obvious constraints on weight and what you can do with the interior space.

Next, propulsion. There are already diesel-electric boats in service, which use diesel generators running at optimum revolutions (more economical, less polluting) to power electric motors, and, in future, the idea is to run the electric motors with the output from hydrogen fuel cells.

Then there is the electricity needed for the yacht’s hotel load, principally air-conditioning and the making of fresh water from seawater, but also lights and other electrical systems. Solar panels can produce some power but rarely enough even to run a present-day superyacht at anchor, so to charge batteries and run the boat, some other form of carbon-free electricity generation is needed to replace the diesel generators widely in use today.

For Barros and Wilk, none of this can justify owning any kind of superyacht. They write: “While many billionaires have taken pro-environmental actions in their personal lives or their corporate connections or donate money to climate change organisations and purchase carbon offsets, none of these actions actually ‘cancels out’ their total emissions. A 90-metre yacht can be touted as energy efficient or environmentally friendly but, as critics of ‘eco-chic’ point out, it is still a huge waste of resources, a frivolous luxury in a warming world.”

But the industry is trying. Doyle’s answer, developed by his own firm and Van Geest Design, is Domus (“home” in Latin), a project for a 40-metre sailing trimaran described as “the first truly zero-emission yacht” over 750 gross tonnes, which would generate electricity to charge its batteries from solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells and its own propellers acting as dynamos when the boat is sailing.

“It came out of a conversation we had with a client,” says Doyle. “We proposed this project with fuel cells, and regenerative sailing. It’s silent . . . people just want to listen to the water and the wind coming across and not have the hum of generators or the whiff of diesel.”

People just want to listen to the water and the wind coming across and not have the hum of generators or the whiff of diesel Rob Doyle, yacht designer

Hydrogen propulsion is in its infancy for mass transport. The gas is difficult to store, though it can be made from methanol, and there is, as yet, no distribution network for the fuel. But the interest in hydrogen is just one sign of how the yacht industry is hunting for ways to lower emissions in the years ahead as the pressure from regulators — and public opinion — increases.

Oeino notes that in some places, including the World Heritage Site fjords such as Geirangerfjord in his native Norway, rules limiting emissions are already in place and becoming stricter, and will help to force the pace of the greening of ships and yachts.

The first systems for big yachts to be fully powered by renewables are likely to be the tenders, the smaller boats that ferry people to and from the shore, which are already starting to shift to electric propulsion, and the equipment that contributes to the hotel load when the ship is stationary. Hotel loads can, in any case, be reduced by sensible design and operation, given that indoor superyacht spaces are heavily air-conditioned all the time despite owners and guests spending a huge amount of their time outside, on deck.

Transocean travel with zero emissions is a much bigger ask, says Oeino. “A lot of stuff is already being implemented, but the full electric big yacht with zero emissions is still not a reality,” he explains, because it is impossible to store or produce enough energy onboard.

“It will be a combination of things that will bring us all to lower emissions and eventually zero emissions.” 

‘Yachts for science’ can be a breakthrough for explorers

For yacht owners who feel guilty not only about their environmental footprint but also about how little they use their expensive boats, Rosie O’Donnell has the perfect solution: Yachts for Science .

YFS, which its co-ordinator O’Donnell describes as “a dating agency, almost like a Tinder for the sea”, is a platform to match idle yachts and their crews with scientists in search of a vessel that can reach remote areas and allow them to research everything from coral reefs and manta rays to great white sharks. In some cases, the owners and their families like to be on board for the ride.

“It’s for people who want to be a bit philanthropic so they have got something more to talk about than sitting on the back of their boat in St Tropez drinking cocktails,” says O’Donnell. “It’s about making the ownership more worthwhile.”

The idea of YFS fits with the trend among yachtowners to commission robust so-called expedition or explorer yachts that can travel long distances, to the Antarctic for example, rather than being satisfied with something that will buzz at high speeds around the resorts of the Mediterranean or the Caribbean.

“The yachting industry is always looking for ways to reinvent itself,” says Dominic Byrne of Arksen Marine , a builder that backs YFS and is building a new range of high-tech motor yachts. “People are looking to go further afield, and they are looking to do it in an eco-friendly way as much as possible.”

This article is part of FT Wealth , a section providing in-depth coverage of philanthropy, entrepreneurs, family offices, as well as alternative and impact investment

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Guest Essay

The Superyachts of Billionaires Are Starting to Look a Lot Like Theft

By Joe Fassler

Mr. Fassler is a journalist covering food and environmental issues.

If you’re a billionaire with a palatial boat, there’s only one thing to do in mid-May: Chart your course for Istanbul and join your fellow elites for an Oscars-style ceremony honoring the builders, designers and owners of the world’s most luxurious vessels, many of them over 200 feet long.

The nominations for the World Superyacht Awards were all delivered in 2022, and the largest contenders are essentially floating sea mansions, complete with amenities like glass elevators, glass-sided pools, Turkish baths and all-teak decks. The 223-foot Nebula, owned by the WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, comes with an air-conditioned helicopter hangar.

I hate to be a wet blanket, but the ceremony in Istanbul is disgraceful. Owning or operating a superyacht is probably the most harmful thing an individual can do to the climate. If we’re serious about avoiding climate chaos, we need to tax, or at the very least shame, these resource-hoarding behemoths out of existence. In fact, taking on the carbon aristocracy, and their most emissions-intensive modes of travel and leisure, may be the best chance we have to improve our collective climate morale and increase our appetite for personal sacrifice, from individual behavior changes to sweeping policy mandates.

On an individual basis, the superrich pollute far more than the rest of us, and travel is one of the biggest parts of that footprint. Take, for instance, Rising Sun, the 454-foot, 82-room megaship owned by the DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen. According to a 2021 analysis in the journal Sustainability, the diesel fuel powering Mr. Geffen’s boating habit spews an estimated 16,320 tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent gases into the atmosphere annually, almost 800 times what the average American generates in a year.

And that’s just a single ship. Worldwide, more than 5,500 private vessels clock in about 100 feet or longer, the size at which a yacht becomes a superyacht . This fleet pollutes as much as entire nations: The 300 biggest boats alone emit 315,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, based on their likely usage — about as much as Burundi’s more than 10 million inhabitants. Indeed, a 200-foot vessel burns 132 gallons of diesel fuel an hour standing still and can guzzle 2,200 gallons just to travel 100 nautical miles.

Then there are the private jets, which make up a much higher overall contribution to climate change. Private aviation added 37 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in 2016, which rivals the annual emissions of Hong Kong or Ireland. (Private plane use has surged since then, so today’s number is likely higher.)

You’re probably thinking: But isn’t that a drop in the bucket compared with the thousands of coal plants around the world spewing carbon? It’s a common sentiment; last year, Christophe Béchu, France’s minister of the environment, dismissed calls to regulate yachts and chartered flights as “ le buzz ” — flashy, populist solutions that get people amped up but ultimately only fiddle at the margins of climate change.

But this misses a much more important point. Research in economics and psychology suggests humans are willing to behave altruistically — but only when they believe everyone is being asked to contribute. People “stop cooperating when they see that some are not doing their part,” the cognitive scientists Nicolas Baumard and Coralie Chevallier wrote last year in Le Monde.

In that sense, superpolluting yachts and jets don’t just worsen climate change; they lessen the chance that we will work together to fix it. Why bother when the luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault is cruising around on the Symphony, a $150 million, 333-foot superyacht?

“If some people are allowed to emit 10 times as much carbon for their comfort,” Mr. Baumard and Ms. Chevallier asked, “then why restrict your meat consumption, turn down your thermostat or limit your purchases of new products?”

Whether we’re talking about voluntary changes (insulating our attics and taking public transit) or mandated ones (tolerating a wind farm on the horizon or saying goodbye to a lush lawn), the climate fight hinges, to some extent, on our willingness to participate. When the ultrarich are given a free pass, we lose faith in the value of that sacrifice.

Taxes aimed at superyachts and private jets would take some of the sting out of these conversations, helping to improve everybody’s climate morale, a term coined by the Georgetown Law professor Brian Galle. But making these overgrown toys a bit more costly isn’t likely to change the behavior of the billionaires who buy them. Instead, we can impose new social costs through good, old-fashioned shaming.

Last June, @CelebJets — a Twitter account that tracked the flights of well-known figures using public data, then calculated their carbon emissions for all to see — revealed that the influencer Kylie Jenner took a 17-minute flight between two regional airports in California. One Twitter user wrote , “kylie jenner is out here taking 3 minute flights with her private jet, but I’m the one who has to use paper straws.”

As media outlets around the world covered the backlash, other celebrities like Drake and Taylor Swift scrambled to defend their heavy reliance on private plane travel. (Twitter suspended the @CelebJets account in December after Elon Musk, a frequent target of jet-tracking accounts, acquired the platform.)

There’s a lesson here: Hugely disproportionate per capita emissions get people angry. And they should. When billionaires squander our shared supply of resources on ridiculous boats or cushy chartered flights, it shortens the span of time available for the rest of us before the effects of warming become truly devastating. In this light, superyachts and private planes start to look less like extravagance and more like theft.

Change can happen — and quickly. French officials are exploring curbing private plane travel. And just last week — after sustained pressure from activists — Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam announced it would ban private jets as a climate-saving measure.

Even in the United States, carbon shaming can have outsize impact. Richard Aboulafia, who’s been an aviation industry consultant and analyst for 35 years, says that cleaner, greener aviation, from all-electric city hoppers to a new class of sustainable fuels, is already on the horizon for short flights. Private aviation’s high-net-worth customers just need more incentive to adopt these new technologies. Ultimately, he says, it’s only our vigilance and pressure that will speed these changes along.

There’s a similar opportunity with superyachts. Just look at Koru, Jeff Bezos’ newly built 416-foot megaship, a three-masted schooner that can reportedly cross the Atlantic on wind power alone. It’s a start.

Even small victories challenge the standard narrative around climate change. We can say no to the idea of limitless plunder, of unjustifiable overconsumption. We can say no to the billionaires’ toys.

Joe Fassler is a journalist covering food and environmental issues. He is the author of “Light the Dark ” and the forthcoming novel “The Sky Was Ours.”

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Voici le bilan carbone du jet privé de Bernard Arnault (mais ce n'est pas le pire)

Tous les vols en jet privé de Bernard Arnault n'arrivent même pas à égaler la pollution émise par son superyacht Symphony.

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ENVIRONNEMENT- Plus de CO2 en un mois qu’un Français en 17 ans. 176 tonnes de CO2 en mai, c’est ce qu’a émis le jet privé de Bernard Arnault , le patron de l’entreprise de luxe LVMH et le Français le plus riche du monde. Ce bilan carbone astronomique a été publié ce jeudi 2 juin par le compte Instagram “laviondebernard” , une page destinée à traquer tous les déplacements en jet du milliardaire.

Ce compte s’inspire de l’initiative d’un jeune développeur américain, Jack Sweeney, qui a créé une  page Twitter dédiée au jet d’Elon Musk et ses déplacements . Avant ça, il suivait déjà les vols de plusieurs personnalités américaines et russes.

Des vols en jet privé de seulement 10 minutes

En regardant les trajets ultra-courts effectués par ces milliardaires, vous avez de quoi déculpabiliser sur votre propre empreinte carbone . D’abord, un trajet en jet privé, c’est une bombe carbone. Un Paris-Nice en jet, c’est plus de 3 tonnes de CO2 émis, soit 1000 fois plus qu’un trajet en train. Et l a plupart des vols des très riches en jet ne durent jamais plus d’une heure. 

Parfois même seulement dix minutes.  Bernard Arnault a par exemple pris son jet pour un trajet  entre Londres Ouest et Londres Est de dix minutes, le 28 mai. Elon Musk a lui effectué un vol de neuf minutes entre San José à San Francisco, en Californie. Deux villes séparées d’environ 80kms, un trajet largement faisable en voiture.

Rendre visible un mode de vie ultra polluant

Si on arrive à traquer aussi bien les déplacements des milliardaires,  c’est grâce à la méthode du “Flight tracking”.  Vous avez surement déjà vu ces sites, comme Open Sky Network, représentant une carte avec des milliers de petits avions jaunes. Ces derniers représentent tous les vols commerciaux en direct. 

La localisation des avions est rendue possible grâce aux “transpondeurs”, des appareils qui donnent des informations de navigation de l’avion.  Ainsi, il est facile d’identifier un avion, son modèle et sa durée de vol. A vec ces informations, on peut ensuite aisément calculer la quantité de carburant utilisé et de CO2 émis. “1 kg de carburant donne ensuite 3.16 kg de CO2”, explique le compte “laviondebernard”. Précisant que la vapeur d’eau, l’autre gaz à effet de serre polluant des avions, via les trainées de condensation, n’est pas encore pris en compte.

Mais quel est l’intérêt d’exposer le bilan carbone des déplacements des ultra-riches? Le compte de l’avion de Bernard dit vouloir “rendre visible le mode de vie polluant des plus riches”.  Ce sujet a d’ailleurs intéressé la science auparavant. En 2021, deux anthropologues ont évalué ce qui polluait le plus dans les habitudes des milliardaires, dans une étude parue dans la revue scientifique T aylor & Francis Online. 

Les yachts pires que l’avion

Et contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait penser, ce n’est pas l’avion  qui pollue le plus, mais le yach t des milliardaires.  Un superyacht avec un héliport, des sous-marins, et des piscines émet environ sept tonnes de CO2 par an. Selon ces chercheurs, c’est le pire actif à posséder d’un point de vue environnemental.

Par exemple, le superyacht de Bernard Arnault, Symphony, avec sa piste de danse et son practice de golf émet 16.000 tonnes de CO2 par an, soit la quasi-totalité des émissions émises par les activités extérieures du milliardaire en une année.

Pour arriver à ce constat, les chercheurs ont passé au peigne fin 82 bases de données d’archives publiques pour répertorier les maisons, véhicules, avions et yachts des milliardaires. Ils ont ensuite sélectionné puis classé, dans l’ordre des plus gros pollueurs, 20 milliardaires pour lesquels il était facile de vérifier les possessions, tout en essayant d’inclure une certaine diversité en termes de sexe et de géographie.

Avec plus de 33.000 tonnes de CO2 par an, Roman Abramovich, l’ex-propriétaire du club de foot Chelsea est en tête du classement des plus gros pollueurs. Son superyacht, le deuxième plus grand du monde, est responsable des ⅔ de ses émissions.

L’humiliation publique, utile?

La consommation excessive de ces milliardaires est problématique jugent les anthropologues, “non seulement parce qu’elle est intensive en carbone, mais aussi parce qu’elle finit par saper le consensus public qui pourrait soutenir les politiques publiques visant à réduire les émissions et à éviter la catastrophe climatique”.

Blâmer publiquement sur les réseaux sociaux leurs comportements est “une stratégie efficace pour faire pression sur les riches”, pensent-ils. Dénoncer ces contre-modèles permettrait, selon eux, d’empêcher que la population ne les imite. En revanche, ils insistent sur l’importance du sérieux des comptes sur les réseaux sociaux prenant part à cette “humiliation” publique: “une plateforme légitime, une bonne recherche de fond, un ciblage minutieux”.

Outre la dénonciation des plus riches, les comptes comme “laviondebernard” véhiculent aussi des messages encourageant la population à réduire ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Rappelant notamment que, selon le Giec, il faudrait se limiter à 2 tonnes de CO2 par personne et par an. Soit réduire par cinq notre empreinte carbone individuelle.

Écoutez aussi sur Le HuffPost:   L’avion est-il vraiment le pire moyen de transport pour le climat?

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Bernard Arnault émet autant de CO2 que 1 158 Français, selon Oxfam

Bernard Arnault, PDG de LVMH, cumule à lui tout seul 10 421 tonnes d’équivalent CO2 en 2018. (Gonzalo Fuentes/REUTERS)

Les riches continuent de gâcher l’effet de surprise. Rapport après rapport, le constat reste le même : les plus riches sont les principaux pollueurs, et les plus pauvres, les principales victimes du réchauffement climatique. Cette fois-ci, Oxfam a décidé de se concentrer sur ces inégalités climatiques. Selon un nouveau rapport publié dimanche 19 novembre ( ici en français), les 1 % les plus riches de la planète, soit 77 millions de personnes, émettent autant de gaz à effet de serre que les 66 % les plus pauvres, soit environ 5 milliards de personnes.

La responsabilité en matière d’émissions de gaz à effet de serre n’est donc pas totalement la même pour tout le monde . Rien qu’en France, les disparités sont sans équivoque. Une partie du rapport d’Oxfam France répertorie les données recueillies pour l’Hexagone : les 1 % les plus riches auraient émis autant de carbone en un an que les 50 % les plus pauvres en dix ans.

En France, la moyenne est de 9 tonnes d’équivalent CO2 par personne et par an, mais les disparités sont flagrantes dès lors que l’on compare les niveaux de revenus. Un Français parmi les 50 % les plus pauvres consommerait aujourd’hui 3,8 tonnes de CO2 par an, tandis qu’un Français faisant partie des 0,01 % plus riches émettrait lui 261 tonnes de gaz à effet de serre à l’année. L’ONG rappelle que, pour atteindre une neutralité carbone, l’objectif est de ne pas dépasser les 2 tonnes de CO2 émis par personne par an en moyenne.

Des ultrariches ultrapollueurs

Mais la comparaison ne s’arrête pas là. Oxfam France n’hésite pas à pointer du doigt la consommation excessive du Français le plus riche, Bernard Arnault, qui cumule à lui tout seul 10 421 tonnes d’équivalent CO2 en 2018, soit autant que 1 158 Français. Basé sur les données d’une étude de deux anthropologues américains , Richard Wilk et Beatriz Barros, le chiffre donne le tournis. Et n’est pourtant pas le pire. Dans ce classement des 20 milliardaires les plus pollueurs au monde, Bernard Arnault n’arrive qu’en quatrième position.

Même si l’on exclut les émissions associées à leurs investissements, les ultra riches mènent un train de vie hors-norme. En regardant dans la liste des milliardaires de Forbes , les deux chercheurs ont répertorié leurs possessions : jets privés, yachts, voitures, demeures et leurs déplacements, comme ceux de n’importe quel autre individu. Le champion incontesté reste l’oligarque russe Roman Abramovich , avec un score de 31 199 tonnes de CO2 émis sur l’année 2018. Et il devance largement Bill Gates (10e position), Jeff Bezos (18e) ou encore Elon Musk (19e). Le mode de vie du Russe s’apparente en effet à un désastre écologique, avec une dizaine de demeures, son Boeing 767 privé, et l’oligarque est tristement célèbre pour ses gigantesques yachts, le Solaris et l’Eclipse, les plus longs du monde.

Climat: les actifs des milliardaires font exploser leur empreinte carbone

Outre les avions , les gros bateaux eux aussi jouent d’ailleurs un rôle dans le réchauffement climatique. Si Bernard Arnault figure en quatrième place de ce classement, c’est à cause de son yacht Symphony, qui représente à lui seul 86 % des émissions du milliardaire. Elon Musk et Jeff Bezos, eux, ne sont pas propriétaires de navires, ce qui explique leur position plutôt basse dans ce top 20, malgré leur fortune, parmi les plus élevées du monde.

De ce constat, Oxfam a dressé une liste de mesures contraignantes destinées aux plus riches uniquement, car «plus on est riche, plus il est facile de réduire ses émissions», juge l’ONG dans son rapport. «La majorité des émissions de carbone des 1 % les plus riches proviennent de biens et services de luxe. […] Personne n’a besoin, par exemple, de prendre souvent l’avion, d’utiliser des jets privés ou des yachts, de posséder de nombreuses demeures» , estime Oxfam France. Pour les contraindre à un peu plus de sobriété, l’ONG plaide entre autres pour un ISF climatique , une taxe sur le kérosène, un malus auto pour les voitures les plus polluantes ou une taxe carbone plus juste . Si la transition écologique peut parfois être difficile d’accès pour les plus pauvres, les riches, eux, n’ont plus vraiment d’excuse.

Pour aller plus loin :

Dans la même rubrique, les français toujours plus connectés, mais soucieux de l’impact écologique de leurs usages numériques, sommet de la «cuisson propre» : des cuisinières et poêles plus modernes pourraient-elles faire baisser les émissions de gaz à effet de serre , paris : les détails sur les trois zones de baignade dans la seine prévues à l’été 2025, pesticides : «les mesures de protection des captages d’eau potable restent trop limitées», festival de cannes, jour 1 : rencontre express et sans chaussures avec greta gerwig, présidente cool, a la cérémonie d’ouverture du festival de cannes, des larmes sur scène et «la dèche» sous le tapis, greta gerwig, présidente du jury du festival de cannes: «je suis plus sensible à la conversation entre les films qu’à tout ce qui les sépare», #metoo : adresse féministe à vincent lindon et aux hommes qui veulent être «aidés à aider», les plus lus.

Billionaires ‘disappointed’ after superyachts banned from Naples port

Yacht belonging to world’s second-richest man, Bernard Arnault, falls victim to new size restrictions at Italian city’s Mergellina port

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A superyacht owned by Bernard Arnault – the world’s second-richest man – has been banned from docking in Naples owing to a new regulation that has left multibillionaires “thoroughly disappointed” about missing out on staying at the southern Italian city.

Symphony, the LVMH boss’s 101 metre long, six-deck vessel was cast adrift off the coast of Naples before being told it could not be hosted at Mergellina port due to a recently introduced limitation on size.

The ban reportedly came as a surprise to the fashion tycoon , who has previously been able to dock the yacht, which contains a glass-bottomed swimming pool and outdoor cinema, at the port.

Corriere della Sera reported that the media tycoon Barry Diller was also forced to renounce Naples after the Mergellina harbourmaster banned yachts of more than 75 metres in length for security reasons.

A source at the port said the move was “incomprehensible” given that megayachts had been able to dock there for the past 20 years, and that Naples would miss out on the type of visitor who brought some lustre to a city that “often makes the news for negative reasons”.

“I am getting many letters from magnates saying they’re thoroughly disappointed that they can’t dock in Naples any more,” the source added.

One of the letters, from a company that charters a yacht owned by a Turkish billionaire and is registered in the Cayman Islands, said: “Our boat measures 85 metres and I have seen larger ones moored there without any problem. Why is this no longer possible? Big yachts bring money, they bring jobs, and it’s really regrettable that they can no longer stop in Naples.”

Business unions have also criticised the new regulation.

“There are many consequences,” Costanzo Jannotti Pecci, the president of the Naples unit of Unione Industriali, told Il Mattino. “There is a feeling that superyachts mustn’t come to Naples. There even seems to be a lack of awareness of the pleasure that a tycoon might get from our city. The fame of a city such as Naples increases through these people.”

Massimo Luise, who manages a pier at Mergellina that hosts luxury yachts, told Corriere della Sera that while he respected the rules, the economic repercussions for Naples were considerable.

“It’s a shame for Naples, a special city full of culture and tradition which can no longer welcome guests of the calibre of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Jeff Bezos and Jennifer Lopez, who over the years have come here,” he said.

While Naples may be out of bounds, the rich and famous have been attracting attention as they enjoy other parts of Italy . Last week, a Spanish tourist and fan of DiCaprio almost drowned after attempting to swim to a superyacht moored off Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany to get a glimpse of the actor, who was onboard.

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World's second-richest man Bernard Arnault sells private jet so climate activists can't track him

It comes after accounts such as @i_fly_Bernard and @laviondebernard sprung up on Twitter to track the private jet of Bernard Arnault and other billionaires to reveal the amount of pollution they cause.

Wednesday 19 October 2022 12:15, UK

The world's second-richest man has said he has sold his private jet so "no one can see where I go" after being tracked by climate activists on Twitter.

Bernard Arnault, the boss of luxury goods company LVMH - known for Moet, Louis Vuitton and Hennessy - has a net worth of $152bn (£134bn), according to Forbes' real-time billionaires list, surpassing Amazon's Jeff Bezos .

Accounts such as @i_fly_Bernard and @laviondebernard had sprung up on Twitter to track the private jet of Mr Arnault and other billionaires to reveal the amount of pollution they cause.

"Indeed, with all these stories, the group had a plane and we sold it," the 73-year-old French business magnate told France's Radio Classique.

"The result now is that no one can see where I go because I rent planes when I use private planes."

His son, Antoine Arnault, 45, said in the same interview that other people knowing where the company jet is could give away key information to competitors.

"It's not very good that our competitors can know where we are at any moment," he said.

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"That can give ideas, it can also give leads, clues."

Bernard Arnault is not the only public figure to have his carbon footprint scrutinised on social media.

A teenager set up a Twitter account last year to track Elon Musk 's private jet.

The SpaceX and Tesla chief described the tracker, which uses publicly available air-traffic information, as a potential threat to his safety - and offered the youngster $5k to shut down the @ElonJet account which was rejected.

Earlier this year the University of Florida student asked Mr Musk for $50k , which the entrepreneur and world's richest man, declined.

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Symphony At Sea: A Glimpse Into LVMH CEO’s $150 Million Superyacht

Bernard Arnault, rumored to have been the third richest man in the world, owns one of the grandest yachts at sea. The impressive superyacht boasts a vast interior and eye-catching aesthetic that make it notable on any list. Mr. Arnault is the CEO of the French luxury goods company LVMH (Louis Vuitton, Moet, Hennessy ) and has caught the attention of yachting enthusiasts with his exceptional seabound treasure.

In 2015, the high-end yacht builder, Feadship, built the $150 million superyacht. Mr. Arnault purchased it, and named it Symphony , a musical metaphor for the billionaire’s undisturbed ocean getaway. It ranks in the top 50 of biggest yachts in the world measuring roughly 333 feet with a max speed of 21 knots, so it’s no wonder that it continues to catch stares wherever it’s docked.

On top of that, the elaborate interior makes this sizable structure stand out from the rest. Zuretti Interior Design, a French studio specializing in luxury superyachts, took on the task of perfecting it. The artisan space was inspired by residences in Bali and Thailand. The walls and floors were covered in light wash wood panels that suggest a hint of ‘upscale tropicale’ . Meanwhile, neutral furniture with gold decor tells a luxe story. On the outside, she has a clean navy blue trim close to sea level that draws the eye to her bright white finish.

This stunning yacht can house nearly 20 guests and has space below deck for a crew of 38. The glamorous owner’s suite includes a private deck with access to an intimate sauna experience and even better views.

This mega yacht has no shortage of amusements. The aft deck has an incredible glass-bottom pool while the bow is taken over by a sleek helipad. A fully-equipped gym also resides here along with a pop-up golf tee. Toys in tow include inflatables, a slide, jet skis, and sea bobs.

Last we heard, the billionaire’s not chartering his vessel, but his own personal guests will take interest in some of the unique features. Those curious about the mechanics behind the craft can have a museum-like experience on board with access to a massive display that tracks speed, rpm, and even allows a glimpse at the underwater camera.

Mr. Arnault has connections in the industry, but he remains quite private amidst it all. Not only is he a shareholder in Dior, but he owns the yacht shipyard Royal Van Lent where his yacht was built. His wallflower behavior spurred his desire to trade in his private jet , but thankfully, Symphony encompasses the calm that he continually seeks. It’s doubtful he’ll part ways with her anytime soon.

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Les émissions de CO 2 des yachts des milliardaires traquées à leur tour

Après les comptes qui suivent les jets privés, les militants s’attaquent désormais à la consommation des yachts de grandes fortunes, selon « Géo ».

Par Le Point.fr

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L' empreinte carbone des grandes fortunes à travers leurs  yachts est scrutée de près par les internautes militants. Ces bateaux sont de loin les actifs qui sont le plus émetteurs de CO 2 avec leur personnel permanent, leurs sous-marins, leurs hélicoptères, leurs piscines et leurs poids à déplacer. Avec les jets privés, les milliardaires sont traqués et exposés au grand public par des comptes sur les réseaux sociaux. Dorénavant, les embarcations luxueuses sont également dans le viseur d'un compte Twitter «  Mega yacht CO² tracker  », rapporte Géo .

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Alors qu'il est demandé aux ménages de faire des efforts sur leur consommation d'énergie, cet internaute répertorie les trajets des plus grandes fortunes à travers le monde et calcule leurs émissions de CO 2 rejetées dans l'eau.

Le yacht de Bernard Arnault est le grand vainqueur

Si les vols des jets privés font polémiques, les vacances d'été ont été propices à la création d'un compte suivant les trajets des yachts des plus riches, y ajoutant la consommation de carburant. Selon « Mega yacht CO² tracker », le 15 août 2022, « le yacht de Thomas Leclercq [fils de Michel Leclercq, fondateur de Décathlon] aurait produit environ 3,7 tonnes de CO 2  en consommant 1 439,7 litres de carburant ». Ce qui équivaut quasiment à l'empreinte carbone annuelle moyenne d'un Français (4,4 tonnes de CO 2 selon le ministère de l'Écologie). À LIRE AUSSI Pollutions, nuisances… En Corse, la croisière n'amuse plus

Mais le record est détenu par le Symphony, propriété de Bernard Arnault , qui émettrait pas moins de 16 000 tonnes de CO 2 par an à cause de ses quatre moteurs qui consomment chacun 657 litres par heure, selon les données constructeur, relaie le compte Twitter. Le Français se classait quatrième dans un classement des milliardaires les plus pollueurs établis par The Conversation en 2021. Son superyacht  représente d'ailleurs, à lui seul, 86 % des émissions du milliardaire français.

Le but des comptes tenus par des militants écologistes est de mettre en avant l'impact carbone des habitudes luxueuses des milliardaires à l'heure de la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique et des efforts de chacun. Sauf que cet usage soulève des questions, comme le droit à la vie privée. D'autant que ces avions ou yachts sont souvent loués sans que les milliardaires ne soient forcément à bord.

À ne pas manquer

Damon - les milliardaires : un millionième de l’humanité, le port de bonifacio face au boom des super-yachts, les yachts des oligarques russes se réfugient en turquie.

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Commentaires (48)

Les verts des trotskistes ? je vous laisse juger... Et CONDAMNER.

Merci pour vos propos cela fait du bien de vous lire, c’est autre chose que les pleureurs chroniques dont la seule motivation est la jalousie.

Il y aura toujours quelqu’un qui sera envieux et jaloux de son voisin car il aura juste un truc de plus que lui. C’est fatigant tous ces types qui s’érigent en justiciers alors qu’ils ne produisent que peu de choses et ne donnent certainement pas du boulot - bien payé - a plus de 130 000 personnes comme Bernard Arnault. Ce dernier a d’ailleurs mis en place des centres d’apprentissage d’artisanat qui sont reconnus dans le monde entier. Alors, au lieu de chouriner ou de tout attendre de l’Etat sous le prétexte d’un choix de vie décroissant, montrez ce que vous savez faire ou aller voir ce que donne un vrai pays communiste ! Et personnellement, je trouve que Le Point se dédouane un peu trop rapidement de son exposé à charge avec sa pirouette de fin d’article.

Gates, Musk, Bezos and nine other billionaires pollute more than 2 million homes: report

A lthough climate change activists encourage everyone to reduce their carbon footprint, it is objectively true that some individuals contribute more to global warming than others. Specifically, the ultra-rich far outweigh regular people when it comes to climate impacts, a fact supported by much scientific research. A new exclusive report by The Guardian revealed that the world's top twelve richest individuals, all billionaires, contribute as much to climate change as 2.1 million households.

The dozen billionaires in question are Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, French fashion billionaire Bernard Arnault, tech billionaire Michael Dell, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovitch, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Laurene Powell Jobs, wife of the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. According to The Guardian, these twelve people combined pour almost 17 million tonnes of CO 2  and equivalent greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere every year. They do so both through their direct business activities, such as financial investments and shareholdings, and through their opulent lifestyles that include massive yachts and private jets.

“Billionaires generate obscene amounts of carbon pollution with their yachts and private jets – but this is dwarfed by the pollution caused by their investments,” Oxfam International’s inequality policy adviser Alex Maitland told The Guardian. “Through the corporations they own, billionaires emit a million times more carbon than the average person."

This is not the first study to connect extreme wealth with extreme involvement in polluting the planet. A study last year in the journal Cleaner Production Letters studied carbon budgets and determined wealthy people spew more greenhouse gases per person than poor individuals.

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Flying shame: the scandalous rise of private jets

Last week, Rishi Sunak flew from London to Blackpool – his third private jet trip in 10 days. He’s far from the only one using air travel for short journeys. Just how much damage is this doing?

I t was a Labour spokesperson who said the prime minister was behaving “like an A-list celeb”, after Rishi Sunak made his third trip by private jet in 10 days. Last week, he flew from London to Blackpool in a 14-seat RAF jet – a 230-mile journey that would have taken about three hours by train. The week before, he did the same to Leeds, which he could have done in two and a half hours by train, but which wouldn’t have looked nearly so glamorous – to go by the ludicrous photograph of him looking important and being saluted as he boarded the aircraft.

Private planes are up to 14 times more polluting, per passenger, than commercial planes and 50 times more polluting than trains, according to a report by Transport & Environment, a European clean transport campaign organisation. “It goes against the fact that the government has committed to net zero by 2050 ,” says Alice Ridley, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Better Transport. “They have said they want to see more journeys by public transport, walking and cycling. Taking a private jet is extremely damaging for the environment, especially when there are other alternatives that would be far less polluting and would also be cheaper.”

Private planes carry far fewer passengers, while about 40% of flights are empty, simply getting the aircraft to the right location. Flying short distances also means planes are less fuel-efficient.

“A private jet is the most polluting form of transport you can take,” says Matt Finch, the UK policy manager for Transport & Environment. “The average private jet emits two tonnes of carbon an hour. The average European is responsible for [emitting] eight tonnes of carbon a year. You fly to the south of France and back, that’s half a year in one trip.”

Transport & Environment says the UK is the biggest private jet polluter in Europe, accounting for nearly 20% of emissions, followed by France (although the US accounts for the vast majority of all private jet flights). While there has been a slowing after the highs that were seen during Covid, when the wealthiest turned to private jets when commercial carriers shut down – or to avoid crowds at airports – levels of private jet travel are still higher than before the pandemic, and many companies are reporting growth.

“Since September last year, we’ve seen a 10% to 15% decline compared to the previous year,” says Richard Koe, the managing director of WINGX, the private-aviation data analysts. “But if you look at January 2023, it’s a little bit more than 10% above where it was in January 2019. That’s some solid growth.”

A study last year for Airbus Corporate Jets found that 65% of the large US companies interviewed regularly used private jets; one-third had started during the pandemic and nearly three-quarters said they planned to use private jets more in the next two years. Last year was a record year for sales of private aircraft. Clearly, despite environmental concerns, there is still substantial interest – in less than two weeks’ time, a global private-aviation conference is being held in London.

Private aviation is, says Koe, “a really immature industry that caters to a tiny proportion of very wealthy people”. But private jets are becoming more accessible. Some charter companies will allow you to book a seat on an “empty leg” – a repositioning flight, or the plane returning to base after a one-way flight – for much less than the cost of chartering your own jet. Chartering a plane from the UK to the south of France, for instance, costs in the region of £13,000. All of this, warned a Transport & Environment report , is likely to be hooking new customers, normalising this form of luxury travel and increasing demand.

“Once you take your first private flight, you don’t want to do anything else,” says Kenny Dichter, the chief executive and chair of Wheels Up, a US-based private aviation company. “The convenience, ease and level of service are hard to top.”

In the UK, private jets tend to use small, private airports, mostly concentrated around London, such as Biggin Hill and Farnborough – from there, it is a short helicopter ride into the capital. Dichter says: “While flying private is certainly a splurge, it’s not solely the province of the super-wealthy.”

They might be people who are booking a special trip, or adventure travellers “looking for the next big thrill in a hard-to-reach location”. His business clients, he says, have found that “the time saved by flying private helps them get more done, see more of their clients and employees and build their businesses”.

How sensitive are they to criticisms about the increased emissions from private aviation? “It’s certainly something that’s of growing importance across the industry,” says Dichter, who says they are looking at ways to reduce their carbon emissions “through the use of sustainable and alternative fuels”, although there is no prominent mention on their website of an environmental plan.

The super-rich largely seem immune to flight-shaming, although they are more sensitive to privacy issues. Social media users, using publicly available flight data, have been tracking celebrities and business people and publicising each flight, along with its carbon impact. Of the jets tracked by the account CelebJets, the plane owned by Taylor Swift was found to have made the most flights, emitting more than 8,000 tonnes of carbon. (A spokesperson for the singer denied that Swift was on every flight, saying her plane is loaned out to others.) The boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr was next, followed by Jay-Z. The Canadian rapper Drake, meanwhile, owns a Boeing 767 – a commercial-scale airliner.

In December, Elon Musk suspended the CelebJets Twitter account, along with ElonJet – both run by a coding student, Jack Sweeney – which tracked his own private jet. ElonJet has since returned to Twitter , but no longer tracks Musk’s jet in real time (although it does on Sweeney’s Instagram account). Musk, meanwhile, has put in an order for a Gulfstream jet , according to reports. Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of the luxury group LVMH, sold his private plane to avoid scrutiny. “The result now is that no one can see where I go, because I rent planes when I use private planes,” he said in a radio interview last year.

One common justification for the use of private jets – often euphemistically called business jets – is that they are critical to the efficient functioning of big business, and therefore economies, but that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, says Finch. “The misconception is that it’s business people flying to do massive deals, which are going to change the course of an organisation and raise 10,000 people’s wages,” he says. “That’s just not true.”

Transport & Environment’s report found that, in Europe, private jet usage peaks in summer, with some of the most popular airports being Nice and Ibiza. Finch says: “Either there’s all of a sudden a lot of business deals happening in August around Nice, or …” A wry pause. “It’s really hard to say they’re going to Ibiza for business.”

The other justification is that private jets account for only 2% of all aviation emissions, but environmental campaigners point out that the sector is growing, many flights are unnecessary and the journey could be done by a commercial carrier or by train, and that private jet use undermines the message the rest of us get about cutting emissions.

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What would Finch like to see happen to curb the rise of private jet travel? “First, no jet fuel is taxed, although the EU have just put proposals in place. But, for me, start taxing private jet fuel tomorrow. These guys can afford it; the average private jet owner is a billionaire. You have to pay fuel duty when you put petrol in your car – why doesn’t someone who flies a private jet around have to pay fuel duty?”

Ridley would like to see increased air passenger duty (APD) for private jet passengers. “They’re not being asked to pay extra for the privilege of flying by private jet,” she says. At the end of last year, the Campaign for Better Transport called for a “super” APD tax on private jet passengers, calculating that it could raise about £1.4bn each year. “We’d like to see that money that the taxation raised go towards public transport, which would benefit more people.”

But, in a strange way, the people flying in these polluting machines could be the ones to accelerate greener air travel, argues Finch. Private jet users are “the ones who can afford to innovate. At the moment, we’ve got test electric and hydrogen-fuel-cell planes in existence. There was a 19-seater hydrogen-fuel-cell plane last week that flew over the skies of England. Progress is happening [and they are becoming] more ready for commercial use.”

Private jets – because they are smaller and fly shorter distances – are particularly suited to this new technology. It would take only a few billionaires putting orders in to get the market moving, Finch says. So, should we be grateful, then, to private jet users? It seems a stretch. Finch says: “At the moment, there is no mechanism to force private jet buyers to buy, or even to consider, zero-emission aircraft.”

How sensitive is the sector to criticism about its environmental impact? “It’s quite different in the US than Europe,” says Koe. “In Europe, the industry is super-sensitive to it. At most of the networking events and conferences, you find sustainability as the top item on the agenda: how the industry can respond, how it can mitigate, how it can innovate.”

In the past quarter, Victor, a private air charter company based in the UK, saw a 5% increase in bookings from new clients. Since June last year, all Victor flights have offered sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a biofuel often made from waste products such as cooking oil. The company previously offset flights, but now says SAF is its focus.

“I have the role as co-CEO of an on-demand private jet business and I care about the environment, and therefore I’m using my position, hopefully, to show what is possible,” says Toby Edwards of Victor. “There’s absolutely a cohort of our customers who want to do whatever they can when booking an aircraft to reduce their carbon emissions, and buying sustainable aviation fuel is a far better choice for private flyers than offsets.”

Edwards says one in five of his customers choose SAF when booking; the company’s internal target is to get that to one in four. Others are more critical – SAF will have absorbed carbon over its lifecycle, but it is not totally carbon-neutral, due to the energy required to refine and transport it. Also, when a plane uses it, it delivers CO 2 to the atmosphere in the same way fossil fuels do.

As it stands, the private jet craze shows little sign of abating. This month, a service was launched by a British company offering private jets for pets, after noticing how many requests it was getting from people wanting to bring their cat or dog on board. Adam Golder founded G6 Aviation in 2021, to offer private air travel to wealthy people who had been grounded by the pandemic, many of whom have continued to fly privately. “You can get somewhere on your own schedule within a day and be back home,” he says. “Everything’s bespoke around your trip. If you want to do several cities in a day, you can.”

G6’s pay-per-seat service, K9 Jets, hopes to run its first flight between New Jersey and London in April. Its flights can take up to 10 people and 10 dogs (depending on the size of the dog), says Golder. G6 has had 2,000 people express interest in the past few weeks. Golder is not expecting seats to be booked by the super-rich; they might be people who are relocating from the US to Europe and are willing to pay about £8,750 for a seat out of, for instance, the proceeds of their house sale. “There’s been quite a lot of stories about mishaps happening when people’s pets are in cargo,” says Golder. “People are more than ever willing to spend more and fly with their pets on a private jet.”

To environmental groups, however, this is another symptom of the gaping disconnect between the desire for exclusive luxury travel and the urgent reality of the climate crisis. “We’re talking decades before we’re looking at the kind of [aviation] technology that could solve the climate issue,” says Ridley. “At the moment, there’s no way to reduce climate emissions from aviation other than flying less.”

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Inside SYMPHONY: Bernard Arnault's $150 Million Yacht

Fashion billionaire Bernard Arnault's superyacht SYMPHONY is the definition of luxury sailing.

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Ownership of the symphony, features of the superyacht, additional amenities and specifications.

French businessman, investor, and art collector Bernard Arnault is the chairman and chief executive of the world's largest luxury goods company, LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton. He is currently the third richest person in the world and the richest person in Europe. The French fashion tycoon is one the world's ultimate taste-makers and his ownership of the super yacht Symphony is a proof that he likes the combination of class and beauty which comes with a price. With the billions of wealth he has accumulated over the years, it is not at all surprising that he bought a luxury yacht.

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Bernard Arnault is the proud owner of the largest Feadship to be ever made according to the Yacht Habor. The CEO of the French multinational luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH, owns the luxury mega yacht which is worth $150 million. It is not surprising that Bernard Arnault would spend so much for a luxury yacht since he has a stunning net worth of $93.5 billion and currently among the top ten billionaires in the world and recognized as the richest man in France.

Arnault first ventured into the yacht industry back in 2008 when he led the acquisition of the British yacht manufacturer called Princess Yachts. Since then LVMH has been working closely with the world leading brand of custom-built luxury mega-yachts, Feadship. It was in 2015 when Arnault decided to buy Symphony for $150 million. The super yacht has about estimated running costs of $10 to 15 million per year and currently not available for charter.

The Superyacht Symphony comes with eight huge staterooms that can fit about sixteen guests and a comfortable berthing that can accommodate about 27 crew members on board the yacht. It also has a private deck for the owner. It is created to accommodate about thirty six passengers. The exteriors of the yacht were designed by the world class renowned company Tim Heywood Design. The interiors on the other hand were aesthetically designed with the décor of the yacht being done by the one and only Zuretti Interior Design. The Symphony has been constructed by the Feadship at the Royal Van Lent Shipyard as a simple Project 808.

The luxury yacht is currently among the most sought-after private vessels . Bernard Arnault’s luxury vehicle at the sea is far more than par excellence. It is powered by a 2,415 hp Wärtsilä engine which comes with a powerful battery bank and about three generator sets. It also houses the string of amenities of the yacht such as the appointed entertainment areas, the al fresco bar area for parties and events and the state-of-the-art kitchen that is serving stunning decadent French delights. It is also a 101-meter luxury yacht that was built at the Royal Van Lent Shipyard. Symphony has a steel hull that has an aluminum superstructure. The yacht has complied with the amended Passenger Yacht Code (PYC).

The luxury yacht is said to be an eco-friendly yacht which uses a hybrid propulsion technology and powered by a 4x MTU 16V4000M73 engine. Due to the advance hybrid propulsion technology, the yacht can store energy in its battery bank that can work together with its diesel engines. The main engine on the other hand works hand in hand with the generators and modern battery bank that were attached to the yacht. It uses about 30% less than the energy that a normal yacht uses. The maximum speed of the yacht is about 21 knots and the cruising speed is about 10 knots. The Symphony was ranked 50 th out of the top 100 superyacht around the world with a 101.5 meter six deck. The structure of the yacht was made by the De Voogt Naval Architects. The floors and ceilings of the yacht are encased in a light wood panel which was complemented by the w ooden furniture with accents of gold and natural tones .

The Symphony contains luxury features such as the 6 meter glass-bottom swimming pool located on the main deck, an outdoor cinema that was aesthetically placed on the bridge deck and a stunning Jacuzzi on the yacht’s sundeck. The owner’s deck is also equipped with two bathrooms, sauna, forward terrace that has a Jacuzzi as well, a private office space, a spacious lounge and dressing rooms. Since the wife of Arnault, Helene Mercier, is a concert pianist, there is also a piano on board. The owner’s deck also has deck area perfect for lounging with a dining table that can accommodate about 20 people. It also has two elevators for passengers to use and one elevator even features a 15-metre interactive video screen which can play video footages upon the request of the guests.

READ NEXT:  Who Will Bernard Arnault Choose to be a Successor of his Billion Dollar Empire?

Sources: Super Yacht Fan , Luxuo , Luxury Launches

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Bernard Arnault’s “Symphony” Super Yacht Is First Feadship To Cross 100 Metres

The 105 metre luxury superyacht ‘Symphony’ is the first Feadship to cross 100m and it is now owned by the richest man in France, LVMH CEO Arnault

Ranked 50 out of the world’s top 100 superyachts, the 101.5 metre six deck “Symphony” luxury super yacht with its “bones” by De Voogt Naval Architects and designed by Tim Heywood Design is the largest Feadship ever built in 2015 (a record since been broken by the 110 metre Feadship 1001). The Symphony is also the first Feadship to be fully compliant with the new Passenger Yacht Code regulations, allowing more than the usual twelve passengers.

Interior designed by Zuretti Interior Design, it was the first Feadship to cross the 100-metre mark, and it was revealed to be owned by Bernard Arnault, one of the richest men in world.

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First Feadship larger than 100 metres, “Symphony” luxury super yacht is Owned by LVMH CEO

The CEO of French multinational luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH, owns the largest Feadship to be ever built according to Yacht Habor . According to Forbes, Bernard Arnault with a net worth of US$93.5 billion, is one the world’s top ten billionaires and the richest man in France. Unsurprisingly, the man who has been shaping the luxury world for 35 years is bound to own a luxury mega yacht worth US$150 million.

Arnault’s previous yacht Amadeus was sold in 2016 for an asking price of US$50 million euros and has recently donated €200 million to the rebuilding fund for Notre Dame de Paris . The “Symphony” yacht is worthUS$150 million.

Designed by Tim Heywood and built by Feadship in the Netherlands as Project 808, Symphony has a gross tonnage of near 3,000GT. With an aluminium structure, the yacht can house 36 passengers and is an eco-friendly yacht, using 30 per cent less fuel than other similar yachts.

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Symphony has a couple of luxury features such as a 6 metre glass-bottom swimming pool on main deck, an outdoor cinema on bridge deck, and a jacuzzi on the sundeck. While the   owner’s deck is equipped with double bathrooms, dressing rooms and a sauna, a forward terrace with Jacuzzi, a private office and a study, a lounge and a spacious aft deck area for lounging with a dining table for 20.

Arnault interest for the yacht industry dates back to 2008 when Arnault ventured into the yacht industry by leading an acquisition of British yacht manufacturer, Princess Yachts which saw L Capital, a fund controlled by LVMH, gain a 70 per cent controlling stake in Princess Yachts . Feadship, the world leading brand of custom-built luxury mega-yachts, has been working with LVMH closely since 2008.

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LVMH’s Bernard Arnault Sold His Private Jet to Stop Twitter Activists From Tracking His Movements

The billionaire is now renting so he can fly incognito., rachel cormack.

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Bernard Arnault has found a way to fly under the radar.

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C'est l'heure du bilan du mois de septembre 2022 pour les 5 avions de nos milliardaires: – nombre de vols: 26✈️ – 48,4 heures de vol ⏱️ – vol le plus court: 30min 🤡 – CO2 émis: 203 tonnes 🔥🔥🔥 Premier mois sans l'avion de Bernard Arnault (dont il s'est séparé 🥲) pic.twitter.com/7XNAj26tP7 — I Fly Bernard (@i_fly_Bernard) October 1, 2022

The billionaire’s son, Antoine Arnault, who is an LVMH board member and the director of communications for Louis Vuitton, added that the Tweets reporting where the jet is could also be bad for business. “It’s not very good that our competitors can know where we are at any moment,” he said during the interview. “That can give ideas, it can also give leads, clues.”

It’s not just Arnault catching flak, either. Back in September, I Fly Bernard called out Kering’s CEO François-Henri Pinault for flying from Venice to Paris and back in one day. The account also pointed out that private planes flying the wealthy around France emitted 224 tons of carbon into the atmosphere in September alone. The environmental impact has not gone unnoticed by French lawmakers. In fact, some of the country’s politicians are advocating taxing the rich for using private jets.

Stateside, Elon Musk is facing similar online wrath. The Tesla CEO, who is now the world’s richest individual with a fortune of $208 billion, recently sparked controversy when an account called ElonJet reported that he flew just nine minutes from San Jose to San Francisco in his private Gulfstream. Musk has called the account “a security risk” and asked the young man who runs it to delete it.

Rachel Cormack is a digital editor at Robb Report. She cut her teeth writing for HuffPost, Concrete Playground, and several other online publications in Australia, before moving to New York at the…

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LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault’s $150 million superyacht was denied docking and banned entry into an Italian port – The centibillionaire’s 333-feet long yacht is too big for the Naples port, and it alone would occupy four spots and hinder the movement of other vessels.

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