Danish ports are green

In many ways, both the Climate Partnerships and the Danish Ports' Infrastructure Plan play a role in our green work. At Danish Ports, we are working to make more people realize that more goods by sea is a good and climate-friendly alternative to rail and road, and we look forward to the negotiations on a green mobility plan in the coming year.

Similarly, we welcome the adoption of the climate agreement, which includes the establishment of two energy islands and a wind farm at Hesselø. This means both a green transition of the ports, but also increased activity in the ports located in the areas.

At Danish Ports, we are pleased with the general goodwill around offshore wind, and during the year we have mapped that between 25-30 of Danish Ports' members are already focusing on wind energy. This is positive for the Danish ports, where it is expected that the Danish offshore wind adventure will create around 20,000 jobs by 2030, but also for the green transition in general.

2020 was also the year when the Board of Directors of Danish Ports adopted a green vision for the work of Danish ports. Thus, the ports are leading the way by committing to the green transition as an industry and allowing themselves to be measured on it.

The vision is linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, work will be done with goal no. 7 on sustainable energy, goal no. 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure, goal no. 12 on responsible consumption and production, goal no. 14 on marine life and goal no. 17 on partnerships for action. In addition, very specific targets have been set for 2025 and 2030, which the participating ports commit to measure and work towards. These are targets in the areas of "an emission-free port", "supporting the circular economy" and "supporting green customer behavior".

Danish Ports has established a green working group for the participating ports to exchange ideas and inspiration on how to meet the targets. So far, the group has looked at issues such as measuring CO2 emissions, waste management and initiatives to ensure biodiversity in ports. 

In the future, Danish Ports will publish an annual sustainability report that provides a status of the work on the green transition in the ports. 2020 will be the first year to be measured in order to establish a baseline. The report is expected to be published in the first half of 2021.