These proposals are an intermediate goal to achieve the big Green Deal ambition for Europe to become the first net-zero emission continent in 2050.<\/p>\n
Whereas this whole package of measures foresees rules to push ports and their stakeholders, in particular the shipping sector, to make the green transition by shifting to renewable clean energies and technologies for their operations, the Green Deal ambition and its Fit for 55 action plan mean a lot more for ports.<\/p>\n
The whole greening and climate agenda of Europe is an opportunity for ports to become green energy hubs at the service of Europe\u2019s economy and society. By seizing this opportunity, ports will be able to grow and decarbonise at the same time.<\/p>\n
But engaging in this or – since many are already working in that direction – further developing this role will imply a whole rethinking of the port ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Energy potential<\/strong><\/p>\n Ports are crucial in the supply of traditional sources of energy, but will play an equally critical role in the production, storage, import and export of new energy sources.<\/p>\n The promising hydrogen is in that respect a perfect example. Some ports will produce it, some will export it, some will become import hubs. Moreover, as unique landing points for the blue economy, ports will be essential for the offshore wind industry in all its facets: Supply of spare parts, reconversion, storage, maintenance, decommissioning to name a few. Finally, as places where many different industries come together and as located in or near urban agglomerations, ports can be ideal locations for the circular economy.<\/p>\n But port managing bodies will have to prepare for this role and adapt their strategies.<\/p>\n Whereas ports have been developing towards becoming landlords when it comes to the traditional logistic operations, we see that ports might be taking up a more active role when it comes to energy activities: Some (co)invest and some even see an operational role when it comes to the energy business in the port.<\/p>\n Ports aiming at evolving towards becoming an energy hub will need to rethink their spatial planning and their hinterland connections. New energies and green technologies have different needs in terms of space and infrastructure than fossil energies required.<\/p>\n Moreover, renewables and green technologies will come with different supply chain needs. The phasing out of coal might for instance negatively impact the modal shift to rail and inland waterway transport, often used for this commodity.<\/p>\n Furthermore, port managing bodies will have to engage and cooperate with a whole new set of counterparts, on top – or instead of – the traditional logistic stakeholders: Energy suppliers and infrastructure managers will become new but natural partners of ports.<\/p>\n Finally, ports will also see a change in their human resources needs. Ports will have to attract new skills and expertise in the field of energy.<\/p>\n Ports in Europe are discovering this potential, but will need the recognition and support from policy makers to succeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The EU Commission has published a whole series of proposals for Europe to reach a 55% emission reduction by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1108,74],"tags":[127,126],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-1641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insight-opinion","category-insight-opinion-greenport","tag-green-energy","tag-green-energy-hubs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1641"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1643,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions\/1643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1641"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=1641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}