How to Measure Environmental Performance in Ports

Alejandro Vega-Muñoz, Guido Salazar-Sepulveda, Juan Felipe Espinosa-Cristia and Jonathan Sanhueza-Vergara
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Alejandro Vega-Muñoz: Public Policy Observatory, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, 7500912 Santiago, Chile
Guido Salazar-Sepulveda: Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial—Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, 4090541 Concepción, Chile
Juan Felipe Espinosa-Cristia: Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad Andres Bello, 2531015 Viña del Mar, Chile
Jonathan Sanhueza-Vergara: Logistics and Quality Management, Fuels Division—SBU Andes, AES Gener, 7500024 Santiago, Chile

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Oceans, seas, and marine resources are highly relevant for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Such relevance has given rise to the blue economy approach, where scholars and policymakers see activities carried out in cargo ports from a different perspective. The blue economy approach stresses the emergence of multiple transnational networks in relation to these topics and the development of green ports plus environmental measurements at seaports in general. In this context, our study aimed to review the various scientifically documented methods for measuring environmental performance in ports, ports companies, or port authorities in the maritime transport and inland waterways framework. The study followed a scientometric meta-analytic methodology to accomplish its goals. The study strictly referred to the Environmental Performance in Ports (EPP) and extracted the corpus to analyze data held in five databases embedded in the Web of Science Core Collection. Then, the selection was processed and refined with the PRISMA guidelines to establish the eligibility criteria for articles with the PICOS (Population, Interventions, Comparators, Outcomes, and Study) tool. A limited study set was identified. This included port environmental performance indicators and studies that were strongly influenced by the European Sea Ports Organization and Green Marine networks. These were compared based on the ecological Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), scale structure, and diversity in application. Finally, we assessed two measurement forms documented in the scientific research on the subject at a global level and discussed their pros and cons.

Keywords: seaports; port authority; port company; environmental performance in ports; SDGs; oceans; sea; blue economy; affordable and clean energy; climate action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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