Port of Huelva renews EcoPorts standard

Being PERS certified requires among others that the port enhances communication with the local community and increases transparency by making its environmental report publicly available. It also implies that the port is effectively monitoring the environmental challenges and is implementing an improved environmental management.

“Relationship with the local community has been a great priority for European port authorities, being continuously on the Top-10 of the environmental priorities since 2009. Further enhancing and communicating their environmental policies and engaging citizens has been a driving force for ports and PERS contributes significantly to that end,” said ESPO’s secretary general, Isabelle Ryckbost.

“For a port, it is getting more and more important to be transparent about its environmental performance towards the local community,” she added.

Encouraging action

34 of the 114 EcoPorts members are already PERS certified. EcoPorts enables its members to further improve their environmental performance and to deal with challenges such as climate change, air quality and noise.

Data submitted to EcoPorts also enables ESPO to come up with an annual Environmental Report and environmental benchmarks for the ports sector. This information is made publicly available, allowing local communities, policy makers, research and civil society to check the annual progress of the sector,” explained EcoPorts coordinator, Sotiris Raptis.

Compliance with the PERS standard is independently assessed by Lloyd’s Register and the certificate has a validity of two years. PERS is revised after the two-year period to make sure that the port continues to meet the requirements.