From Ocean Plastic to Smarter Fleets: How Analytics Is Accelerating Mission-Driven Impact

At the 2025 Fleet Forum Annual Conference, Robert Monné, Managing Director of Analytics for a Better World (ABW), delivered a compelling keynote on how data science can empower nonprofits to increase their impact more quickly and efficiently.

With just five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and only 17% of targets on track, Monné emphasised a critical need: to accelerate progress by using the untapped potential of analytics.

The Mission of Analytics for a Better World

Founded by the University of Amsterdam and ORTEC, ABW’s mission is clear: unlock the potential of analytics for people who make the world a better place. The initiative brings together nonprofits, academic researchers, and private sector partners into a collaborative ecosystem.

• Nonprofits bring the mission, context, and pressing challenges
• Academia contributes deep analytical and optimisation expertise
• Industry provides scalable tools, software, and implementation capacity

This three-way collaboration enables the development of scalable, high-impact solutions that address complex global problems.

The Ocean Cleanup: A Case Study in Scalable Impact

One of ABW’s most notable success stories is its collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to removing plastic waste from the ocean. The organisation approached ABW with a key challenge: how to optimise vessel routes to maximise plastic collection in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating accumulation zone of plastic larger than the country of France.

ABW partnered with researchers from the London Business School and the University of Amsterdam, along with ORTEC’s software engineers, to build a predictive and prescriptive analytics model. This model integrates plastic density data, sea current patterns, and wave conditions to generate optimal routing strategies.

The results were substantial. According to The Ocean Cleanup’s CEO, Boyan Slat, the model enables the organisation to clean the garbage patch in half the time and at nearly half the cost, reducing the cleanup horizon from 10 years and $7.5 billion to just 5 years and $4 billion.

A Proven Model: Challenge → Data Science → Impact

Monné highlighted the simple but powerful framework behind ABW’s approach:

1. Challenge – Define a core problem, such as increasing reach or reducing emissions
2. Data Science – Apply techniques like visualisation, prediction, and optimisation
3. Impact – Quantify how the solution increases efficiency or reduces costs and harm

This model applies not only to ocean cleanup but also to sectors like healthcare logistics, infrastructure planning, and mobility management.

A Call to Action for Fleet and Mobility Leaders

At the Fleet Forum event, Monné invited participants to consider how this approach could enhance fleet efficiency, improve road safety, and mitigate environmental impact. For example:

• What if analytics could identify high-risk road segments using accident and weather data, and reduce injuries and fatalities?
• What if fleet routes could be optimised to lower emissions and better serve remote communities?

ABW believes that the same analytical capabilities used by tech and logistics companies can help mission-driven organisations transform mobility operations for social good.

Looking Ahead

By 2035, ABW aims to create a global movement where every mission-driven organisation can harness analytics to solve humanity’s most pressing problems. The keynote served not just as a presentation, but as a call to reimagine what’s possible when data is used for good. From ocean cleanups to safer streets and smarter fleets, the tools are available — the opportunity now lies in bold collaboration and shared ambition.