India sets sail towards sustainability with new guidelines for green ports

The Government has come out with the guidelines for green port aimig to promote sustainability and minimize the environmental impact of port operation.

“These will act as a guiding tool for decision making in ensuring carbon neutral development with least disturbance to the surrounding aquatic and atmospheric environment,” Port, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said while introducing the guidelines. Echoing the same sentiment, Ports, Shipping and Waterways Secretary Sudhanshu Pant said these guidelines cover aspects of National Green Hydrogen Mission pertaining to ports, development of green hydrogen facility, LNG bunkering, Offshore Wind Energy etc., and “provide provisions for adopting global Green Reporting Initiative Standards.”

Emphasised on the need of such initiatives, guidelines say Indian Ports will play an important role in contributing towards de-carbonisation efforts of the country. Ports are, therefore, required to undertake green initiatives in line with the broad vision of the country and contribute to the efforts being made by the country in moving towards achieving India’s long-term goal of reaching net-zero emission by 2070. This will also help in contributing towards moving closer to the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG) which includes obligations on developing resilient infrastructure for safe, efficient and sustainable ports, a document containing guidelines added.

Guiding principles

The guidelines are based on 11 principles. These include ensuring sustainability (Environmental, Economical and Social) in port development by adopting environmentally compatible designs in constructing resilient infrastructure meeting local energy dynamics. At the same time effort would be on employing an ecosystem-dynamics in port development, operation and maintenance aligning to ’Working with Nature’ concept and ‘Panchamrit Commitments’, minimizing impact on biotic components of harbor ecosystem.  “Maximizing use of Clean/Green energy in Port operation. Developing Port capabilities for storage, handling and bunkering Greener Fuels viz. Green Hydrogen, Green Ammonia, Green Methanol/Ethanol etc.,” another principle said.

Effort will be on minimising carbon and other harmful emissions following Eliminate, Reduce, and Control (ERC) approach to protect local community, ecology and environment in and around Port areas and reduction in carbon intensity by 30 per cent per tonne of cargo handled, from the current levels (Baseline FY2022-23), by the year 2030 and 70 per cent by year 2047. Also, guidelines aim to minimising waste through Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose and Recycle (5R concept) to attain zero waste discharge from port operations.

These guidelines will be applicable to all major ports of India. The country’s maritime sector plays a crucial role in the overall trade and growth with 95 per cent share in trade volume and 65 per cent share in trade value. Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030, the roadmap prepared by the Ports, Shipping and Waterways Ministry for the maritime sector in the country, aims to strengthen the maritime sector through concerted interventions. There are over 150 initiatives identified under the MIV 2030 to take forward the vision under each segment. ‘Sustainable and Green Maritime Sector’ is one of the focus areas under the MIV 2030.

India, as a part of its commitment in COP 26 towards Climate Action, has pledged to reduce the emission intensity per unit GDP by 45 percent by year 2030, from 2005 level and achieve about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by the year 2030.

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