Holcim enters offshore yacht racing with GO CIRCULAR

• Holcim launches GO CIRCULAR race boat to accelerate the shift to circular living
• Skipper Kevin Escoffier to sail around the world in The Ocean Race and Vendée Globe
• Building on PRB’s 30-year legacy of sailing

Holcim enters offshore yacht racing with the launch of its first IMOCA race boat in Lorient, France on a mission to GO CIRCULAR. Led by skipper Kevin Escoffier, Holcim will compete in round-the-world races from The Ocean Race in 2023 to the Vendée Globe in 2024. GO CIRCULAR builds on the sailing legacy of PRB, which became part of the Holcim family in 2022.

Kevin Escoffier, Team Holcim-PRB skipper: “The Holcim-PRB team is ready to sail! Over the last 30 years, PRB has established itself as a leader in sailing. Now with Holcim on board we’re taking the adventure to new international heights with GO CIRCULAR and The Ocean Race. We only have one planet, but we’re living like we have two. I have seen firsthand what this means for our oceans, which have been part of my life since childhood. With GO CIRCULAR, we are calling for a shift towards more circular living to protect our precious ecosystems. This is close to my heart as a sailor and especially as a father.”

With GO CIRCULAR Holcim is on a mission to inspire action to preserve nature’s ecosystems from ocean to land. To accelerate the shift to circular living it is driving an education program empowering students and communities to take action while advancing marine science with water sampling throughout its races. On the ocean, Holcim is already recovering marine plastic waste with its Circular Explorer, the first-of-its-kind 100% solar powered recycling catamaran operating in Manila Bay to clean up its coastal areas. On land Holcim is engaging with urban leaders around the world with its Circular Cities Barometer to fast track progress towards circular cities. Building on these initiatives Holcim’s GO CIRCULAR will amplify its call to action for more circular living.

Team Holcim-PRB will begin racing with the 2022 Route du Rhum and will enter its first round-the-world regatta with The Ocean Race in January 2023. The Ocean Race is a crewed regatta with stops in nine cities, from Alicante, Spain to Genova, Italy. Competitors will be especially challenged by its longest leg ever, from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to Itajaí in Brazil representing a non-stop 23,613 kilometer stretch. In November 2024, Team Holcim-PRB will compete in the legendary solo round-the-world race the Vendée Globe.

GO CIRCULAR builds on the sailing legacy of PRB, which has sponsored ocean racing for 30 years and won two editions of the Vendée Globe, in 2000 with Michel Desjoyeaux and in 2004 with Vincent Riou. Team Holcim-PRB’s skipper Kevin Escoffier is a recognized global sailor, who participated in two editions of The Ocean Race, including a victory with the Dongfeng Race Team in 2018.

With circularity at the core of its business, Holcim continually innovates to build better with less following the principles of reduce, recycle and regenerate. Holcim is at the forefront of reducing the footprint of building across its entire lifecycle, from low carbon construction to more energy-efficient buildings in use, all the way to green retrofitting. As a world-leader in recycling Holcim recycles over 50M tons of materials across its business today on its way to doubling this to reach 100M by 2030, with applications ranging from the world’s first cement with 20% construction & demolition waste inside, to roofing shingles with upcycled plastic inside. Holcim is committed to regenerating ecosystems from land to ocean to preserve our planet, bringing more nature into cities with its solutions from green roofs to Hydromedia permeable concrete, all the way to restoring marine ecosystems with bioactive concrete reefs.

Find out more about GO CIRCULAR here: https://www.holcim.com/sustainability/circular-economy/go-circular