Background
Ports are a significant source of global air pollution around coastal areas, exposing people to serious health and environmental impacts. Port emissions come from a wide range of sources - directly or indirectly related to port operations - including fuel-powered cargo handling equipment, ships, harbor craft, trucks, rail locomotives, port administration vehicles, power plants providing energy for port operations, etc. The emissions include greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide (CO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), oxides of sulfur (SOx), methane (CH4) and particulate matter (PM).
PM contributes to increased respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia as well as chronic lung and heart disease, premature deaths etc. Diesel PM is especially toxic, and is now classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization. A study published in 2009 indicated that shipping-related PM emissions were responsible for approximately 87,000 cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths in 2012 , with most these deaths occurring near coastlines in Europe and Asia where high population density and high shipping-related PM concentrations coincide.
In addition, PM arising from incomplete combustion of fossil fuel or biomass primarily consists of black carbon (BC), a short-lived climate change agent. Current research indicates that the climate change impact of BC is second only to CO2 (surpassing that of CH4, CFCs, N2O, or tropospheric ozone) and that its impact is slightly more than half that of CO2.
Objective
Given the close proximity of human population to marine-related emissions – approximately three-quarters of all large cities are located on coasts, 50 percent of the world's population lives within 60 km of the world’s oceans, and 70 percent of marine emissions occur within 400 km of the coast – reduction of PM/BC emissions from global ports and maritime sources stands to greatly improve the air quality of over 3.5 billion people as well as significantly reduce global climate change. Towards this end, UNEP in collaboration with the United States, Canada and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), are implementing a global initiative funded by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC) aimed at reducing diesel PM and BC emissions from ports and maritime sources i.e. emissions from ships, harbor craft, cargo-handling equipment, trucks, trains, etc.
A successfully implemented program to reduce ports and maritime PM/BC emissions will positively impact the environment, the people that work in the industry as well as those that live near the coast and/or in port cities. The CCAC has funded the first phase of the project, a pilot project in the Port of Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the second phase that will see clean ports projects in four cities around the world (Valparaíso in Chile, Chittagong in Bangladesh, Tema in Ghana and Aqaba in Jordan) as well as the development of a global clean ports hub that will serve as a repository for advanced ports expertise as well as air emissions inventory data for ports in developing and transition countries.
