Lloyd’s Register Foundation announced a new partnership together with the World Economic Forum focused on Accelerating the Transition to Nature and People Positive Ports.
Ports are vital to international and countries’ employment and economic growth. United States ports account for roughly 10% of the country’s GDP, while the port activities in the Eurozone represent approximately 16% of the profits of the entire EU Blue Economy.
The partnership includes a three-year project starting in March 2025, aimed at securing commitments from major global ports and sharing verifiable strategies that benefit people and nature. In parallel, efforts will raise awareness about building new ports in emerging markets, to ensure new investments incorporate nature-positive criteria.
- Ports are economic hotspots, facilitating 90% of global trade. They directly employ 30 million people around the world and indirectly affect 90 million jobs.
- New research finds the port sector can unlock over $54 billion in business opportunities by 2030 by prioritizing clean energy, circular economy and nature-positive strategies.
- To ensure a holistic transition, port-based industrial clusters need to foster collaboration between all stakeholders in the entire ecosystem, according to the Transitioning Industrial Clusters’ report.
“Ports play a significant role in driving growth for emerging economies. As demand for port infrastructure increases, we need innovative practices and engineering methods to secure a safer, cleaner, and more sustainable sector,” said Alfredo Giron, Head of Ocean, World Economic Forum, “To do this it’s essential that the nature-positive transition for ports also provides benefits for people”.
We need to ensure the ports we adapt and create don’t just deliver against economic and social targets, but actively protect, restore and enhance nature
…said Thomas Thune Andersen, Chairman, Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
In addition to providing critical infrastructure for regional and global trade, ports also accommodate some of the world’s largest industrial zones, thus some of the heaviest CO2 emitters. To achieve global nature and climate targets such as the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement goals, it is essential to foster collaboration for nature-positive and scale the development of clean energy solutions for transport and industry in port areas, while balancing energy security and ensuring a fair transition.
The transformations needed in port-based industrial zones for clean energy solutions present an opportunity for a holistic regeneration strategy. Sensitive planning methods for the land and sea use in port areas can minimize negative impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems, benefiting both the natural ecosystem and local community.
