The Cannes Yachting Festival Showcases Sustainable Innovation

RX has set out the sustainability programme for the Cannes Yachting Festival, running 8 to 13 September 2026 across the Vieux Port and Port Canto in Cannes. The Innovation Route identifies and presents sustainable boating solutions across the show, and its associated Innovation Route Awards return for a second edition with four categories: best navigation-improving equipment, best sustainable product, best innovative boat and best corporate social responsibility initiative. The 2025 winners give a sense of the field: SEA.AI for its WATCHKEEPER collision-prevention system, MODX for a fully electric 70-foot catamaran, Millikan for an autonomous solar-electric catamaran, VAAN for the R5 sailboat which is 95 percent recyclable, and Benetti for the B.YOND 37M hybrid superyacht, which cuts nitrogen oxide emissions by 85 percent. The jury includes Guillaume Arnaud des Lyons, Deputy General Delegate at FIN; maritime expert Thierry Berest of Boat and Sea Consulting; Rachel Goult, Managing Director of Yacht Carbon Offset; journalists Jean-Christophe Guillaumin of Figaro Nautisme and Geoffroy Langlade; and Elena Patriarca, Director of Adzurra. Goult said sustainable innovation is no longer an option but the future of the sector. The 2026 show expects 56,000 visitors, more than 680 exhibitors and 700 boats from 5 to 50 metres, with close to 150 world premieres. For context the release notes electric boats account for less than 8 percent of the global market, while France issues nearly 90,000 boat licences a year.