The reduction of the carbon footprint has occurred despite the increase in traffic by 24% during the same period

The Port Authority of Valencia works on various initiatives to supply electric power to ships moored in the port

Valencia, 23rd December 2018, – The fight against the climate change and the reduction of CO2 emissions and other pollutant particles will center a large part of the investments and actions in environmental matters of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) during the next few years. This was stated by the head of Environmental Policy of Valenciaport, Raúl Cascajo, in the third edition of the Forum Energy and Sustainable Development, organized by Cámara Valencia. During his speech, framed in the roud table “Energy and Environment. Fight against climate change”, Cascajo has exposed the initiatives developed by the PAV to achieve compatibility between reducing the impact of port activities on the environment and the growth of commercial activity.

Cascajo explained that Valenciaport’s leadership is also showing itself when it comes to applying eco-efficient measures; “For example to reduce the carbon footprint, as evidence of the evolution of the carbon footprint of the port of Valencia; that in the recent years- from 2008 to 2016- has accumulated a decrease of 17% from 3.12 to 2.58 t CO2e per tonne moved”

“Carbon- explained the responsible for environmental polices of the Valencian port area- is the indicator that we consider relevant to be able to make the appropriate improvement. In fact, the PAV was the first port authority in Spain to register the carbon footprint on a port area in the carbon footprint record created by the Ministry of Ecological transition, obtaining the “calculation” stamp. And so, we see that during that same period, the traffic of the port has experienced a growth of 24%”

Methodology calculation Carbon Footprint

In his speech, Cascajo has indicated that the port of Valencia was also a pioneer worldwide in measuring its carbon footprint under the standard of ISO 14064-1: 2006. A methodology used for measurement that includes four levels: the port as a whole, the port activities, services and processes and equipment.

This methodology, according to Raúl Cascajo “from the European project ‘Climeport’. We began to make a breakdown of the emissions that were produced in the Port of Valencia and we considered general and particular features of the 40 companies that operate in our terminals. From the results obtained, it was analyzed where the highest electrical and fuel consumption occur, due to the Port of Valencia has emissions of 166 thousand tonnes of CO2 per year”

‘Cimeport’, an initiative implemented by the PAV has shown that 45% of emissions from the port of Valencia come from ships; 25% come from the work developed in the port terminals; 12% is due to land transport and the remaining 18% comes from other activities that take place in the port.

Growth and sustainability

In the 3rd forum of energy and sustainable development, Cascajo gave some details of the projects in which Valenciaport has participated to reduce emissions in port activities.

In this way, currently, the PAV is working on various projects related to the shift from traditional fossil fuels based on petroleum to other cleaner fuels such as LNG and hydrogen, such as GAINN (GAINM4MOS and GAINN4SHIP INNOVATION) and CORE LNG AS HIVE, financed by the EU through its CEF (connecting Europe Facilities) program and whose objective is also working on the H2PORTS project, financed by the EU by the H2020 program.

Likewise, the PAV is immersed in the study of the use of renewable energies in the port area. In particular, it is studying the implementation of photovoltaic and wind energy in the northern extension of the port of Valencia.