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Six Mediterranean ports - Marseilles (France), Koper (Slovenia), Piraeus (Greece) Livorno (Italy) as well as Valencia and Algeciras (Spain), are co-operating within the context of the Climeport project to diagnose their influence on climate change, this with the aim of creating action plans to reduce the impact of port operations on the environment. Among the project partners are also a number of organizations active in the field of energy consumption reduction - such as the Valencia Energy Agency (Spain), Goriška Local Energy Agency (Slovenia), Electricity Technical Institute (Spain) - which are not only providing know-how, but are disseminating the project's results amongst peer organizations throughout the continent.

The ports directly involved in this project handle almost twenty percent of total Mediterranean maritime traffic. All participants are aware that the environmental problem is not a matter of a single player, but a global challenge; for which reason they are working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from both terminal operations and vessels, as well as in such spheres as innovative transport and energy efficiency.

An extensive benchmarking process is currently underway. On 30th March 2010 the Project Partners gathered in Koper to hear about best practice identification with the focus on the reduction of energy consumption and waste generation, together with the introduction of renewable energy sources in port zones. A common approach and methodology for CO2 footprint evaluation was also presented.

 

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