Bold vision for the future green European port

By Maaike Dalhuisen

It is the MAGPIE vision that ports will be the key accelerators for greening European transport to the fullest, while strengthening their position in the energy supply chains. To support ports to take up that key accelerator role, the MAGPIE WP9 team created a bold vision for the future green European port in 2050, in which GHG-neutral shipping and minimal pollution in, to, and from European ports by 2050 is achieved.

Bold visions provide clear guidance on ‘what good looks like’, encourage growth by aiming to reach higher, and help structure strategies and priorities towards a long-term goal. The MAGPIE vision is developed by ports, port experts, and stakeholders to ensure that all European seaports and inland ports are able to implement the 2050 vision directly or use it as inspiration for the development of their own port-specific vision.

Vision in short:

Safe, secure, efficient, competitive, circular, without harmful emissions and pollution, a happy workplace, and in sync with people, local authorities, and nature in the locality; contributing to economic value. European smart green ports will take the lead in building a sustainable, safe, and competitive future together.

Key takeaways

• Value of a port-specific vision: many ports have a long-term ambition or vision that is often not specifically developed for the port, but for the city, region, or otherwise. The use of these visions for structuring port strategy is, therefore, more difficult and less common. Best practices of port-specific visions, like the port of Rotterdam Port Vision, see Rotterdam Port Vision | Port of Rotterdam, show that these type of visions act as a true compass for ports and their stakeholders.

• EU regulations as baseline: The MAGPIE vision relates to the Paris agreement (United Nations, 2015), the various initiatives taken by the European Commission on climate neutrality, pollution, transport, and ports, such as the EU port strategy, Water Framework Directive, and Nature Restoration Regulation.

• Being bold: For ports to be true accelerators for greening European transport, the donut economy (About Doughnut Economics | DEAL), the planetary boundaries (Planetary boundaries – Stockholm Resilience Centre) and the green and blue economy (Green Economy | UNEP – UN Environment Programme and Sustainable blue economy – Oceans and fisheries – European Commission) have been used as a framework to create truly bold ambitions for a future green port.

• From generic to detailed: the MAGPIE vision includes an overall vision, including the main goals, major challenges to overcome, and the means to do that. Next to that, a more detailed elaboration per vision element is developed to create further understanding and subject-specific suggestions of changes in a port. As an example, the prevention of heat stress (by reducing local increases in temperature, bringing nature back to the port, and implementing lessons from warmer regions, such as natural air circulation and white buildings) is elaborated in the detailed vision and not in the overall vision.

Future Utilization

The MAGPIE vision is developed for port authorities and published online on the MAGPIE website to ensure that all European seaports and inland ports are able to implement the 2050 vision directly or use it as inspiration for the development of their own port-specific vision.  It is also used for the MAGPIE exhibitions as a framework for showing the MAGPIE demonstrators and tools, as they all contribute to the vision of ports in 2050.