New York unpacks new zero-emission by 2040 vision for port operations

The New York City Council has introduced a new bill that calls for a feasibility study of zero-emission port operations by 2040, environmental organization Pacific Environment revealed.

As disclosed, the feasibility study comprises all aspects of port transportation, maintenance, loading and unloading, handling equipment as well as ocean-going vessels, trucks and locomotives. It is understood that the study, the introduction of which was reportedly led by councilmembers Alexa Avilés and Shana K. Hanif, would be delivered one year from its enactment.

“Conducting a feasibility study regarding the transition of our city’s ports to zero-emissions by 2040 is an important step forward for our climate future and one we need to consider urgently, especially as we consider a revisioning process at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in an age of climate collapse,” Avilés, who is a council member at New York’s District 38, highlighted.

The international maritime shipping sector is a major polluter. According to the EU’s Transport and Environment, the shipping industry is responsible for 3% of global emissions. Moreover, as per experimental estimates that the OECD released last year, there were approximately 858 million tonnes of CO2 emissions worldwide in 2022 alone, compared with 739 million tonnes exuded from air transport.

In parallel, fossil-fueled ports and ships also pose a ‘significant’ threat to the health of portside communities; namely, Pacific Environment revealed that across the New York metro region, in particular, air pollution has been estimated to cause over 21,000 cases of childhood asthma annually.

Dawny’all Heydari, Climate Campaign Advocate at Pacific Environment, emphasized that port cities like Los Angeles, Long Beach and Seattle have helped ‘catalyze’ the transition to cleaner ocean shipping and that New York has an ‘important’ role to play here as well.

“With federal climate action going to be stymied in the next four years, it is more important than ever for local governments to carry the torch forward on the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate progress,” she commented.

“By introducing the call for a comprehensive feasibility study of zero-emission port operations by 2040 with Bill LS 17648, the New York City Council is addressing a critical need to modernize port activity while protecting New Yorkers’ health and combating climate change in a timely way.”

As explained, should the bill be enacted, the resulting feasibility study would aim to:

• assess the readiness of city ports to transition to zero-emission port operations;
• identify whether a transition to zero-emission port operations can be completed by 2040;
• evaluate the technology available to assist in this transition;
• explore the investments needed to achieve this goal;
• gauge if it is possible to supply ‘sufficient’ shore power to all commercial vessels by 2027;
• pinpoint any barriers to achieving enough shore power for those vessels by 2027;
• study if the port operations workforce is prepared to make this transition and, if not, whether training programs can be made available to them;
• explore whether it is practicable to provide incentives, such as reduced docking fees or docking order benefits, to zero-emission commercial marine vessels or commercial marine vessels that have ‘greatly’ reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria air pollutants.

Reflecting on the proposed bill, Fern Uennatornwaranggoon, Climate Campaign Director, Ports, Pacific Environment, underscored: “New York can lead the way in reimagining our ports for a sustainable future, and we look forward to seeing actionable policies emerge from this important effort.”

Regarding the maritime environmental efforts made in the region, New York launched a $10 million solicitation for clean hydrogen research, development and demonstration projects in May last year. The all-embracing goal of the solicitation was said to be providing support to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act targets which aim to slash emissions by 85% by 2050 and transition to 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040.

More precisely, one ‘major’ goal within this endeavor was seeing how fossil fuel usage could be replaced in hard-to-electrify sectors, with funds available to projects proposed by New York-based entities that are also actively applying for federal clean hydrogen funding opportunities.

Zeroing in on specific ports, it is worth noting that the Port Authority of New York was among the recipients of funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) via a program that intended to incentivize and speed up the upgrade or retirement of older diesel engines to cleaner and zero-emission solutions for marine vessels.

Namely, a total of circa $125 million was granted to around 70 applicants as part of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) National Grants Program, which prioritizes the environmental efforts made in areas that face air quality impacts, especially those projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.

• U.S. pushes for decarbonization of maritime sector with new action plan
• Pacific Environment calls on US EPA to ban scrubber discharge
• Port of New York, New Jersey unveils net-zero roadmap
• Ulsan Port Authority, Pacific Environment join forces to decarbonize ports
• US invests nearly $580 million in port improvement projects