To match the greater objective of achieving the Zero Carbon Emission Goal, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways launched ‘Harit Sagar’ the Green Port Guidelines. The guidelines were introduced yesterday in New Delhi by Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways and AYUSH, in the august presence of Shripad Y. Naik, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways and Tourism, and other top Ministry officials.
Harit Sagar Guidelines 2023 envision ecosystem dynamics in port construction, operation, and maintenance while adhering to the principle of ‘Working with nature’ and minimising influence on biotic components of the harbour ecosystem. It emphasises the use of clean or green energy in port operations as well as the development of port capabilities for storing, processing, and bunkering greener fuels such as green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol, or ethanol, and so on.
These guidelines provide a framework for major ports to develop a comprehensive action plan for achieving targeted outcomes in terms of quantified carbon emission reductions over defined timeframes through focused implementation and close monitoring of green initiatives and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The guidelines’ goal is to reduce waste through reduction, reuse, repurpose, and recycling to achieve zero waste discharge from port operations and to promote monitoring based on environmental performance indicators. This also covers components of the National Green Hydrogen Mission relating to ports, the development of green hydrogen facilities, LNG bunkering, offshore wind energy, and so on, as well as the provision for adopting the worldwide Green Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard.
‘The publication of the Harit Sagar Green Port Guidelines is an important step towards realising our environmental objectives. During the event, Shripad Naik, MoS, MoPSW, stated that the standards were developed with the goal of fostering environmentally responsible practises throughout all our ports.
