Nature Positive Role of the Ports Sector

Executive summary In a highly globalized world, port infrastructure and services are critical to keeping global supply chains functioning. As they continue to be constructed and expanded around the world, ports are not only vital to international economic activity but also contribute heavily to many countries’ employment and economic growth. In total, 30 million people globally are employed in the port sector directly, and 90 million jobs are indirectly related to port ecosystems more broadly. While ports contribute significantly to domestic and global economic and social development, they can also have substantial impacts on nature. Without careful planning, port construction can destroy land and water ecosystems. Likewise, port operations and economic activities downstream can lead to varying degrees of pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and species invasions. Given the growing volume of global trade, it is crucial for the port sector to take action and transform port operations and value chains to contribute to nature- positive global goals. While recognizing that many ports have already made progress considering and addressing climate change and environmental pollution, the sector now requires systematic thinking and accelerated action to support nature-positive goals. Ports should be fully aware of their relationship with nature and consider the entire value chain when it comes to decision-making. This report summarizes the sector’s key impacts and dependencies on nature and sets out sector-specific actions that corporate leaders can start to take now to transform their businesses, including: 1. Sensitively plan port areas to minimize impacts on nature: Ports should be planned in an integrated and coordinated way, aiming to simultaneously meet business and operational needs and minimize impacts and dependencies on nature. 2. Enhance the use of clean energy, sustainable materials and advanced equipment and operating systems: Optimize energy portfolio, improve or retrofit storage and refilling facilities to accommodate increasing quantities of green alternative fuels needed for green shipping, prioritize the use of advanced equipment and gradually replace ageing and carbon- intensive equipment, adopt energy-saving and environmentally friendly materials in port construction and operation, save and recycle freshwater to the maximum extent. 3. Improve prevention and mitigation capacity against pollution and invasive species: Optimize operations and implement advanced technologies to prevent and mitigate pollutants, formulate and implement emergency response plans to address incidents, improve monitoring systems to ensure the impacts on nature can be controlled and minimized as well as to identify incidents when happening, regulate and standardize prevention and control of invasive species. 4. Promote a circular economy and catalyse cross-sector collaboration in regulation, finance and innovation: Commit to circular business models by maximizing the recycling of materials and building efficient supply chains; enhance cross-sectoral collaboration in submitting joint policy asks, setting industry standards and regulations, launching and contributing to nature-related initiatives, co-developing finance mechanisms with investors, etc. 5. Actively protect and restore nature: Establish and sustainably manage habitat areas, improve green coverage, enrich vegetation types, improve soil structure, restore degraded land, protect the natural coastline, and take part in compensating conservation and restoration activities such as marine species protection, mangroves planting, mudflats and seagrass beds conservation. These priority actions could unlock more than $54 billion worth of annual business opportunities by 2030 for companies operating across the sector’s value chain, presenting significant possibilities for the port sector in the new nature-positive economy.Businesses throughout the value chain should make joint efforts for a just and equitable nature-positive transition. Nature Positive: Role of the Port Sector 6