DiscoverWho’s asking for net zero ports, and why?
Port customers are under pressure to decarbonise and looking for low/zero GHG emissions (alongside wider environmental, social and governance performance) in their supply and logistics chains. They increasingly want to limit business to those operators that enhance their own end-to-end performance, and are seeking to reduce the cost of doing business. Low/net-zero operators will gain competitive advantage over rivals with higher emissions, and eventually form a global green transport network.
Investors and banks see exposure to climate change as a major risk to capital. They increasingly expect organisations they invest in to measure, understand, report and mitigate climate risks by planning and implementing measures to achieve decarbonisation and resilience. With port customers looking for decarbonisation in their logistics chains, demonstrable alignment is important for sustaining return on investment. Operators failing to transition and adapt face disinvestment and difficulty borrowing, which could ultimately result in stranded assets. Those that transition effectively will attract investment and secure loans to meet their business objectives.
Governments signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 and many have committed to net-zero. They have set policy backed by legislation and regulation to drive industry compliance. Operators in breach face fines and reputational harm. Those going beyond compliance will gain operational ‘headroom’ and reputational benefit.
Decarbonisation options
Efficiency: Operators have identified and implemented ‘easy wins’ but improved understanding of energy consumption and emissions sources will reveal further opportunities – the aggregation of marginal gains achieved through operational fine tuning will add up to a significant total reduction, while planned capital maintenance or investment interventions can deliver substantial ‘lump sum’ reductions.
Green energy: Add production and storage alongside core operations to displace energy from hydrocarbons (wind, solar, hydrogen, ammonia, batteries), addressing ship fuelling needs as well as port and freeport operations, and landside transport requirements (road and rail, freight and passengers).
Offsetting: It will be impossible for organisations to reduce emissions to absolute zero, but year-on-year improvements will always be possible; port and airport operators must accurately measure their residual emissions in order to offset them.
Envision is already working with the Port of Singapore, achieving a 5% reduction in energy and carbon, 20% increase in asset availability, 20-fold increase in green energy production and a 20% improvement in operational efficiency. Our own digital solutions, including the industry leading Moata Carbon Portal, are used on the world’s most ambitious infrastructure projects.
Our joint offer: Modular energy and carbon management/optimisation
- Energy monitoring and orchestration: Power network digital twins | Peak shaving/price arbitrage | AI-driven energy procurement advisory
- Smart grid solutions: Virtual power plant and distributed energy resource capacity aggregation | Energy/ancillary service market participation and trading | Vehicle to grid
- Port operation insights: Port asset management | Power/energy analytics | Energy wastage identification
- Carbon management: CO2 emissions monitoring | Carbon abatement | Carbon offset and renewable energy certificate trading
- Low carbon design and construction: Planning and design for net-zero | Carbon modelling and optimisation | Low carbon construction and integration
- Talk to us to find out more: Craig Lucas, head of energy transformation, Mott MacDonald