The Ecological Footprint of Ports

Abstract

The ecological footprint is studied as a macroindicator of sustainability applicable to companies and corporations. Until now, this macroindicator has been applied to cities, regions, or countries. It accounts for the consumption of natural resources by converting them into hectares of “nature” or consumed productive land. The parameters analyzed in this research have been consumption of energy, fuel, material, paper, wood, water, built land, and green areas, and residues generated by the Gijón Port Authority, Spain. The results show a net ecological footprint of 3,279.84 ha. The main components of the footprint are construction works (nearly 2,000 ha) and electricity consumption (679 ha). Studies of this kind enable companies to design sustainable development plans to reduce consumption as well as develop “green” (footprint-free) products and create “natural capital” (wastage absorption). Until now, these issues have not been on the agenda of companies, but they are indispensable in achieving real sustainability.

Port Sustainability Index: Methodological Issues

“…In the context of sustainable development in ports, researchers have discussed impact of maritime transport on environmental performance either for selected performance indicators or through models. Carrera-Gómez, et al [28] adopted ecological footprint of ports enabling authorities to prepare sustainable development plans by developing footprint-free products and absorption of wastages. European maritime companies used Green Marine Environmental Program (GMEP) to assess improvements of specific environmental performance indicators to maintain certification, where subjective self-evaluations are done to rank the performance indicators on a scale from 1 to 5 [29].…”

Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainability of Port Regions: MCDM Approach in Composite Index Creation

“…There are a significant number of papers considering some aspects of sustainability. Numerous authors have discussed the impact of maritime transport on economic growth [22][23][24][25], environmental performance [15,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and social sustainability [33,34].…”