‘Harit Sagar’ Green Port Guidelines Launched To Achieve Zero Carbon Emission Goal

On May 10, 2023, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) launched the ‘Harit Sagar’ Green Port Guidelines, 2023 with a view to achieving the zero-carbon emission goal and ensuring that sustainable practices are followed at all ports. The guidelines provide a framework for major ports to come up with action plans to reduce carbon emissions and meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

With these guidelines, the impact of port operations on various life forms of the harbour ecosystem is sought to be lessened. Further, it aims to attain zero waste discharge through waste reduction and it is emphasized that clean energy has to be used in port development and operation for handling green fuels such as green methanol, green ammonia, etc.

The press release specifies that the guidelines cover aspects of the National Green Hydrogen Mission pertaining to ports, development of the green hydrogen facility, LNG bunkering, Offshore Wind Energy, etc. and provides provision for adopting the global Green Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard.           

At the event, the Secretary of the MoPSW, Sudhansh Pant highlighted that four of the country’s major ports, Deendayal Port, Visakhapatnam Port, New Mangalore Port and V O Chidambaranar (VOC) Port are already generating renewable energy more than their demand. He expressed that going ahead, “our ports will be able to evaluate themselves on the environmental indicators to know their capability in the environmental aspects”.