As the European elections take place in May 2019, the Port of Rotterdam sets out its priorities for the coming years in the field of decarbonization. The Port of Rotterdam highlights that a system change is necessary to enable the energy transition, both in Rotterdam and in the rest of Europe.
Namely the Port of Rotterdam will focus on five main sectors:
1. Energy transition
In order to facilitate the industry to achieve the necessary CO2 reductions and to make Europe a leader in the global energy transition, the Port called the new European Commission and European Parliament to help it realize the necessary energy transition projects via a three-step approach.
- Step 1 (now-2025) focuses on energy efficiency and developing the necessary infrastructure for steam, industrial heat and CO2 .
- Step 2 encompasses the transition towards a whole new energy system. This phase (2020-2030) is mainly concerned KEY PRIORITIES FOR EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 2019 with making energy use by industry sustainable. Investments in this phase are needed to increase the capacity of the energy infrastructure for electricity and hydrogen. Also, market creation is necessary through a combined strategy of blue and green hydrogen.
- Step 3 includes the renewal of raw materials and decarbonization of the fuel system (2030-2050). In this phase, large-scale supply of green electricity and green hydrogen will be connected to the industry cluster and Rotterdam will function as an international (chemical) recycling-, biomass- and hydrogen hub.
2. Biobased and circular economy
The Port of Rotterdam accommodates the world’s largest industrial cluster that uses biomass and waste as raw material. In order to limit the climate impact, the Port of Rotterdam invests in the attractiveness of the business climate for biobased and waste-based industries.
We stimulate the development of a chemical cluster that increasingly uses recycled or biobased feedstock
the Port said.
3. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
CCS is necessary to deliver on climate targets on time. This is even more so in a highly fossil-fuel based cluster such as the Rotterdam industrial cluster, where for many industries there are no cost-effective alternatives for decarbonization within the immediate future.
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For this reason, the Port of Rotterdam is developing an independent transport and storage infrastructure, to which emitters can deliver their captured CO2 for offshore storage in empty gasfields under the North Sea.
Namely, the Port aims to build an infrastructure that is easily expandable to be able to accommodate captured CO2 from other regions and even neighbouring countries such as Belgium and Germany.
4. Hydrogen and renewables
The Port of Rotterdam sees great possibilities in hydrogen for electrification processes based on renewables. Hydrogen enables the large-scale renewables integration and power generation. Industrial companies in the port mainly use energy to generate heat for their production processes. On the way to 2050, the industry will change to an entirely new energy system. Electrification based on energy from sun and wind or with hydrogen then becomes a significant energy carrier.
5. Decarbonisation of transport
The Port of Rotterdam believes that distinct price signals and polluter-pays principles are crucial to make cleaner alternatives more attractive and ensure the necessary investments in clean transport and fuels.
By putting a price on climate impact, and more specifically on the CO2 emissions, stakeholders in the transport sector are incentivised to make use of the most sustainable modes of transport, efficient transport infrastructures and cleaner transport fuels
the Port explains.
You may see more details in the PDF herebelow
