What is the carbon footprint of an FRP fibreglass boat?

Glass fibre and polyester or epoxy resin make up most of it, counted by weight bought including offcuts and resin waste. Styrene vapour from open moulding is a health issue, not a greenhouse gas. Add mould shop electricity, then the engine as a separate bought part.

Materials

• Glass fibre mat and roving.
• Resin, gelcoat and catalyst.
• Core materials, fittings and paint.

Use

For a powered boat, fuel burned over its life is often larger than building it. Report it separately if a buyer asks.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads your electricity bills, fuel invoices and purchase invoices into dated, fingerprinted records, so a per unit footprint can be traced back to the documents behind it. Estimates are labelled as estimates.

• Glass fibre furnace CO2
• Epoxy resin footprint
• Fishing vessel fuel

Sources: GHG Protocol Product Standard, ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org), GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.