PIONEERS addresses the challenges faced by European ports to reduce their environmental impact while remaining competitive in a sector characterised by continuous growth. These challenges are aligned with the European Green Deal’s main objective to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. In order to accomplish the PIONEERS’s strategic goal and vision, a set of five objectives have been defined:
1. Reduce the port's total environmental footprint by introducing Clean energy, production, storage and supply
The European Ports have the potential to become key points of energy production based on renewable energy sources, benefiting the energy portfolio of the area while deriving the benefits as energy users. PIONEERS will play a key role by creating several solutions to reach this objective.
2. Deploy sustainable port infrastructure beyond energy supply and demand
Port operations require significant infrastructure that affects beyond energy supply, storage, and demand. This objective will enable the European ports to introduce alternative fuels for their yard vehicles, reduce the environmental impact of port infrastructure, promote effective and green land use, and provide the means for continuous improvement towards achieving climate neutrality.
3. Introduce eco-friendly improvements relying on digitalisation and new methods of operation
Modern ports have evolved into multimodal hubs and logistics nodes connecting maritime with road, rail, and inland waterways flows. PIONEERS will demonstrate highly efficient logistics operations for integrated sea/river-port hinterland connections through several demonstrations that enable modal shifts and system-wide door-to-door multimodal passenger mobility and freight transport.
4. Co-define and transfer PIONEERS' demonstrations to fellow ports during the project lifecycle
By developing collaboration networks and public-private partnerships, the focus will be on defining, adopting, and deploying a selection of project demos at the fellow European ports during the project lifecycle. Therefore, PIONEERS will define a framework for co-definition and execution of the 19 demonstrations conducted and co-transfer and scale them up at fellow ports and beyond.
5. Deliver and disseminate a Port Master Plan for the transition towards GHG neutral shipping and wider multimodal mobility by 2050
A Green Port Roadmap, defined by PIONEERS, will be adopted in order to adjust the Master Plans of the 4 participating European ports during the project lifecycle. Moreover, it will also recommend updates for local port Master Plans by proposing feasible alternatives with the highest emission reduction potential, taking into consideration governance, operational and legal frameworks, business models and financial viability. The Green Port Roadmap will be publicly available and disseminated through the engagement of the community, as well as through the available dissemination channels and liaising with related projects.
