Project helps ports deal with climate change

The European project ECCLIPSE – Assessment of climate change in ports in Southwestern Europe, led by Fundación Valenciaport, co-financed by the European Commission through the Interreg V-B Programme Southwest Europe and in which the Port Authority of Valencia also participates, started in October.

Its main objective is analysing the impact of climate change in ports, developing tools and early forecasting models to provide a deeper understanding of its impact on a local scale.

It will also contribute to raising awareness of the impact of climate change and will define transnational strategies for prevention, adaptation and action in the SUDOE region that can minimise their effects.

Common methodology

The ECCLIPSE project will define a common methodology for analysing the impacts of climate change and its effects on the maritime-port environment. To this end, the main climatic risks will be analysed and it will be identified which infrastructures and operational ones may be affected by these impacts.

In addition, climate change scenarios and their local effects on the port environment will be identified. The final step will be to draw up a strategy for adapting to the effects of climate change, including a risk prevention plan and proposal of measures and protocols for action in the event of alerts.

In addition to project coordinator Fundación Valenciaport, the project consortium is made up of four technological partners: Spanish Ports Authority, Hidromod, Cerema and the Foundation for Climate Research; and three ports: Valencia, Aveiro and Bordeaux.

In these ports, awareness days and pilots of the tools developed will be organised to analyse the main climatic variables affected and their impacts.