Ports + policymakers

Together with their government partners, ports have the power to transform port infrastructure and accelerate the transition to zero-emission shipping.

Resources – ports + policymakers

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Ports for People Ordinance

Pacific Environment’s “Ports for People” Ordinance seeks to establish provisions and procedures to immediately reduce and eliminate air quality pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from cargo ships, and achieve a 100% zero-emission standard for cargo shipping by no later than 2040.

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Open letter to Australia’s new elected officials urging a transition to electric ferries

Pacific Environment wrote a letter to Australia’s new elected officials to urge New South Wales to transition to electric ferries, starting with the Parramatta ferries. In a decade of climate emergency, we cannot continue relying on dirty diesel technologies.

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WWF: DESCARBONIZACIÓN DEL SECTOR PORTUARIO Y DEL TRANSPORTE MARÍTIMO

México se encuentra en una posición estratégica a nivel mundial, ya que sus puertos del Golfo de México, Mar Caribe y del Pacífico y el transporte marítimo permiten la importación y exportación de bienes y son uno de los principales motores de crecimiento económico, ya que generan empleos y oportunidades para las ciudades aledañas, así como para muchas regiones del país.

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Coalition support letter to the California Air Resources Board

Coalition letter: California Air Resources Board’s Ocean Going Vessel At Berth Interim Evaluation Report and the Need for an Advanced Clean Ship Rule

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Ports Playbook for Zero-Emission Shipping

Ports are the hubs of world trade but also centers of concentrated pollution from ships. Science shows us that the 2020s are the critical decade for climate action and, with ships having an average lifespan of 20-30 years, decarbonization of shipping needs to begin immediately. Read our 9-point playbook to take action.

California Must Phase out the Dirtiest Ships & End Fossil Fueled Shipping by 2040 to Save Lives

Ships are among the worst polluters in California. Ship pollution contributes to an estimated 3,700 premature deaths each year in California. Overall, if ocean shipping were a country, it would be the sixth largest polluter behind Germany. This is why we need ocean ships to move off fossil fuels, stop polluting our ports, and for the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to commit to zero-emission shipping by 2040.

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Ports for People RePORT Cards

Ports for People is on a mission to end port and ship pollution. Our Ports Playbook for Zero-Emission Shipping details nine actions that ports can take to accelerate the transition to zero-emission shipping by 2040. By implementing these bold commitments, progressive policies and immediately actionable progress steps, ports can ignite a chain reaction in the shipping supply chain to build and deploy zero-emission vessels. But to move forward, we must know our starting point.

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Mission Innovation’s Green Shipping Corridor Route Tracker

Since the launch of the Clydebank Declaration in November 2021 a number of green shipping corridor efforts have been launched. Read Mission Innovation’s green shipping corridor route tracker to learn more about these efforts and their progress.

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“Building on green shipping corridors: International blocs for zero-emission shipping” by Allyson Browne, Pacific Environment

This paper assesses the scalability of port-to-port green shipping corridors and suggests a collaborative model to build on corridor development. In addition to corridors, nations, sub-nationals and their ports can align with regional partners to create international blocs of high ambition ports. By leveraging economic buying power and public-private investments and aggregating demand for renewable electricity and zero-emission (ZE) fuels, regional alliances can develop infrastructure at scale, create clusters for innovation and promote rapid deployment of ZE ships.

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Letter to LNG Bunkering Summit Speakers

On behalf of the Ports for People campaign to end port and ship pollution and coalition of campaign partners, we strongly urge you to withdraw your speaking commitments, sponsorship and attendance at the LNG Bunkering North American Summit in Washington, D.C. on November 15-17, 2022. In the face of inextricably linked climate, ecological and public health crises, we must stop investing in and supporting fossil fuels and
fossil fuel infrastructure at our ports – including liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering.

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November 2022 Letter to Executive Director Mario Cordero

On behalf of our Ports for People campaign to end port and ship pollution, we strongly urge you to withdraw your speaking commitment and attendance for the LNG Bunkering North American Summit in Washington, D.C. on November 17, 2022. In the face of inextricably linked climate, ecological and public health crises, we must stop investing in and supporting fossil fuels and fossil fuel infrastructure – including liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering at the Port of Long Beach.

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Ports Playbook for Zero-Emission Shipping (CHINESE version)

通过利用港口国权力和经济实力,并与政府合作伙伴和行业利益相关者合作,港口可以在促进本十
年及以后的零排放海运转型方面发挥领导作用。

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Ports Playbook for Zero-Emission Shipping (SPANISH version)

Nuestro manual de estrategias de 9 puntos desafía a los puertos a tomar medidas ambiciosas en tres líneas de esfuerzo, con un enfoque en compromisos audaces, políticas progresistas y progreso demostrable.

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Ports Playbook for Zero-Emission Shipping (FRENCH version)

En tirant parti de l’autorité de l’État du port et de son pouvoir économique, et en collaborant avec les partenaires gouvernementaux et les acteurs du secteur, les ports peuvent jouer un rôle de premier plan en tant que catalyseurs de la transition vers un transport maritime à zéro émission au cours de cette décennie et au-delà.

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Ports Playbook for Zero-Emission Shipping (KOREAN version)

우리의 9포인트 플레이북을 통해 항만이 대담한 약속, 진보적인 정책 및 입증 가능한 진전에 중점을 두며 세 가지 노력 전반에 걸쳐 대담한 조치를 취하도록 요구합니다.

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U.S. MARAD Port Infrastructure Development Program

The Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) is a discretionary grant program administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration. Funds for the PIDP are awarded on a competitive basis to projects that improve the safety, efficiency, or reliability of the movement of goods into, out of, around, or within a port.

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U.S. EPA Ports Initiative

EPA’s Ports Initiative works in collaboration with the port industry, communities, and all levels of government to improve environmental performance and increase economic prosperity. This effort helps people living and working near ports across the country breathe cleaner air and live better lives.

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UK legal obligations on international shipping

Emissions from the UK’s international shipping activities make up more than half of the UK’s total maritime emissions. However, the UK is proposing only to regulate emissions from the domestic fleet, stating in the recent Course to Zero consultation that responsibility for regulating international emissions lies with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

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Policy Model: Zero “at berth” (in port) emissions policy – California’s Ocean-Going Vessels At Berth Regulation
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Policy Model: Zero-emission harbor craft policy – California’s Commercial Harbor Craft (CHC) Regulation
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Policy Model: City Zero-Emission Shipping Resolution – Los Angeles City Council

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to adopt Councilmember Nithya Raman’s resolution calling on Los Angeles’ top maritime importers to commit to making all port calls to the San Pedro Port Complex, which includes the Port of Los Angeles, on 100% zero-emissions ships by 2030.

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Policy Model: National Zero-Emission Shipping Policy – U.S. Clean Shipping Act 2022

Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), along with original co-sponsor Congresswoman Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), introduced H.R. 8336, the Clean Shipping Act of 2022. This bill becomes the first stand-alone legislation to zero out pollution from all ocean shipping companies that do business with the United States.

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Policy Model: Port Fee Reduction Program – MPA Singapore’s Green Ship Programme (GSP)

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) Green Ship Programme encourages Singapore-flagged ships to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The program allows qualifying ships to receive a reduction on their Initial Registration Fee (IRF) and a rebate on Annual Tonnage Tax (ATT). Ships that use zero-carbon fuels (such as ammonia and hydrogen) as their primary fuel can apply for 100% reduction on the IRF and a 100% rebate on the ATT until December 31, 2024.

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Policy Model: Speed & Noise Reduction – Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) Program
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Study: The Climate Implications of Using LNG as a Marine Fuel (The ICCT, Jan 2020)
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Study: Scaling U.S. zero-emission shipping: potential hydrogen demand at Aleutian Islands ports (The ICCT, June 2022)
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Study: Comparing The future demand for, supply of, and life-cycle emissions from bio, synthetic, and fossil LNG marine fuels in the European Union (The ICCT, Sept 2022)
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Study: Liquid hydrogen refueling infrastructure to support a zero-emission U.S.–China container shipping corridor (The ICCT, Oct 2020)
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Study: Refueling assessment of a zero-emission container corridor between China and the United States: could hydrogen replace fossil fuels? (The ICCT, March 2020)
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Report: Shipping industry and ports susceptible to billions of dollars in damage, disruption from climate change (EDF, March 2022)
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Initiative: C40 Green Ports Forum

C40 Cities’ Green Ports Forum initiative connects port cities and ports around the world to take collective action to tackle the climate crisis and decarbonise global supply chains related to ports. The forum currently includes 20 of the world’s leading port cities from every region. The initiative launched the Los Angeles & Long Beach-Shanghai Green Shipping Corridor in 2022.

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Port Action Plan Model: Port of Oslo – a zero-emission port

Oslo is one of the world’s most climate-conscious and environmentally ambitious port cities. By 2030, Oslo will eliminate 95% of greenhouse gas emissions. Port of Oslo will reduce emissions by 85% in the same period, and become emissions-free over the long term.

News + insights

EPA announces billions of dollars in funding for the Clean Ports Program

EPA is releasing two separate Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) as part of the $3 billion. The nearly $2.8 billion Zero-Emission Technology Deployment Competition will directly fund zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure to reduce mobile source emissions at U.S. ports. Eligible uses of funding include human-operated and maintained zero-emission cargo handling equipment, harbor craft and other vessels, electric charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure, and a number of other technology investments.

Mayor Hernandez-Thorpe signs first-ever pledge towards a fossil-free Antioch

Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe made a world-leading commitment to reject public investments in new, renewed, fossil fuel infrastructure in Antioch and steer the city toward timely climate mitigation and resilience. 

Puget Sound Energy withdraws controversial Liquified Natural Gas permit

Last Friday, the City of Tacoma sent out a press statement announcing that Puget Sound Energy had requested to withdraw its permit and cancel the associated building permit for the proposed controversial Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) plant on Tacoma’s Tideflats.

Pacific Environment welcomes Ports of Singapore, Los Angeles, Long Beach Partnership plan, calls for increased ambition

Today, at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, the Ports of Singapore, Los Angeles and Long Beach announced a Partnership Strategy for a green and digital shipping corridor across the Pacific Ocean. This partnership builds on the prior commitments made by the United States and Singapore which was formalized by a Memorandum of Understanding by the ports during Singapore Maritime Week in April 2023.