Port sustainability initiatives: a study of brazilian public ports

Abstract

The paper aims to identify the environmental sustainability initiatives applied in Brazilian public ports. The survey was conducted with twenty port managers located along the Brazilian coast, and the results revealed that sustainability initiatives in Brazilian public ports are consistent with international practices. The study observed a trend in which ports integrate management indicators with sustainable development goals. Brazilian ports have demonstrated a commitment to publishing sustainability reports, although only eight ports currently use the GRI guidelines to prepare these reports. Therefore, there is room for improvement in aligning with international standards and improving external communication. Companies and stakeholders can compare sustainability reports more easily using a common international standard, facilitating benchmarking and identifying best practices. The enhancement of port resilience to the impacts of climate change requires continuous monitoring, and ports have access to various databases and tools for this purpose. According to the study, the most commonly used databases by the surveyed ports are meteorological/climatological and oceanographic/hydrological. Only 5% of all ports had green tariff incentives to reduce emissions in port regions. Furthermore, nearly 40% of all ports monitored CO2 emissions through emissions inventories, and only two ports employed solar energy. The paper outlines the main environmental sustainability initiatives in Brazilian public ports and provides insights for promoting more sustainable ports and cities.