LCA4PORTS

Title: European Ports Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Summary: Europe’s ports are key-elements of cohesion in Europe, as reflected in the Commission’s Communication on a European Ports Policy (COM/2007/0616) that follows up and implements the Communication on an Integrated Maritime Policy (COM/2007/575).

In particular, EU port authorities need to respond to the following challenges:

• The need for a major technological change, marked by the development of cleaner operations in port environments;
• A reduction of greenhouse gases in the port environment;
• The development of a dialogue on performance and development of ports, between port stakeholders.

This project aims to develop a lifecycle assessment (LCA) model in line with EU environmental legislation concerning port development. The project’s overall objective is to develop the port of Anzio on the coast of Lazio, Italy, as a model of LCA application and eco-design.

Specific goals are to:

• Minimise negative environmental impacts during the site construction, port management and completion stages;
• Involve stakeholders fully in all stages, from port design to port management.

Other goals of the project are to:

• Define all steps in the ‘life’ of a port from an environmental point of view (construction, management and decommissioning) with a strategic approach that is focused on integration by different themes, space and time;
• Promote effective implementation and enforcement of EU legislation at regional level and increase the knowledge base for environmental policy concerning seaports and coastal environments;
• Identify all environmental best practices for each step in the ‘life’ of a port;
• Design integrated management systems for water, energy, waste, construction sites, spatial planning and urban green areas, and test them in this specific context

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