Scope of the Literature on Efforts to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Seaports

Abstract

Seaport activities account for 3% of global carbon emissions, and as an important industrialised economic centre, ports engage in numerous industrial and financial activities that could increase their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon footprints (CF). The 13th sustainable development goal (SDG) states that these activities must be balanced with environmental considerations. Therefore, as critical marine infrastructure, seaports need CF reduction initiatives. This scoping review covers important ideas and ways to reduce the CF in seaports to simplify future policymaking. These approaches include energy management systems, equipment and infrastructures, and carbon emission policies and laws specific to ports. Relevant literature is classified, evaluated, and discussed. The findings are interpreted and discussed based on the current state of ports around the world, using statistical data to demonstrate that there are sufficient regulations and standards in place, but that more work is needed to replace conventional systems with intelligent ones and fossil fuels with renewable energy. Finally, the scoping review results, and scientific interpretations, thoughts, proposals, and recommendations are presented as references for related studies in the future.

Enhancing Urban Sustainability: Unravelling Carbon Footprint Reduction in Smart Cities through Modern Supply-Chain Measures

“…The warming of the Earth may be influenced in many ways by various GHGs. These gases vary from one another, primarily in terms of their capacity to absorb energy (known as "radiative efficiency") and the length of time they remain in the atmosphere (also known as their "lifetime") [58].…”

Optimizing Smart Energy Infrastructure in Smart Ports: A Systematic Scoping Review of Carbon Footprint Reduction

“…Figure 8 shows how an intelligent energy network may improve the efficiency and dependability of the power system by combining a variety of local and renewable energy sources [27].…”

“…Figure 8 shows how an intelligent energy network may improve the efficiency and dependability of the power system by combining a variety of local and renewable energy sources [27]. Additionally, Figure 8 shows how, via intelligent energy networks, customers may benefit from lower power costs and money from energy sales during peak hours by reserving extra energy for storage, an advantage of intelligent energy networks in modern smart seaports [30].…”

Scope 3 Carbon Emissions in Seaports

“…According to current protocols, the organizations distribute port emissions into three categories: those produced by equipment and services under the control of port authorities (scope 1), those generated by the purchase of electricity for all port authority activities (scope 2), and other port activities, including employee travel, outsourced operations, construction, mobile sources such as vessel and truck transportation activity (scope 3), which represent the remaining part of emissions and comprise indirect Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, but which are owned or under the control of port concessionaires [4], [5].…”