SNSM – Les Sauveteurs en Mer

The SNSM – Les Sauveteurs en Mer is a French association created in 1967. It carries out public service missions in France including its overseas departments. Unique in its field, the SNSM is the only organization with both the skills and qualifications to operate on the beach and offshore.

SNSM’s main mission is to save lives at sea and on the shores, covering offshore rescue by lifeboat crews, beach surveillance by lifeguards, training, and civil protection everywhere. Its mission is carried out by 9,000 Volunteers and 120 salaried staff working out of 208 lifeboat stations, 32 operational and training centres and 3 offices.

It also carries out civil safety missions, within the framework of public manifestations on land or at sea and implement preventive actions and public awareness campaigns on safety at sea and on the coast.

SNSM is a volunteer organisation, funded up to 72 % by private funds, mostly from charitable donations from individual or corporate donors.

Les Sauveteurs en Mer entered a partnership with the Climate Action Accelerator in November 2023. By becoming a partner of the Initiative, the SNSM undertakes to:

• Evaluate, based on a carbon emissions assessment, the conditions for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions).
• Participate in the 3 pillars of the Initiative (capacity building – champion – community of practice).
• Report each year, on both its greenhouse gas emissions and the progress made in terms of reduction, across all 3 scopes following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) or the Bilan Carbone of the French ADEME.
• Share the objectives of the partnership with the Initiative, promote its strategic value and facilitate the mobilization of resources, for the development and strengthening of the Initiative.

Through this collaboration, SNSM will begin to elaborate its environmental roadmap in 2024 and aims to highlight the urgency of preserving marine and coastal environments and biodiversity.

Cover photo © Pierre Mouty