As the second decade of the 21st century draws towards its close, sustainability and the environment are prominent in all aspects of human impact on planet earth. It is particularly driven by climate change which necessitated the 2015 United Nations (UN) Paris Agreement. Within the marine shipping industry, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been driving forward an environmentally friendly regulatory agenda for many years.

All the above has meant that there is a need to start to think differently about how ships and marine vehicles / assets are specified, designed and operated. The result has been the development of various modelling methods and tools which have varied in complexity and sophistication from very simple spreadsheet models to highly complexed computer simulations.

This paper will look at how we have got to where we are today regarding modelling environmental impact and sustainability within marine vehicle concept design projects. It will then discuss where this is leading us to in the future from a concept design project viewpoint.