Modeling and evaluation of green port development: A case study on Tianjin Port

Abstract

In spite of the fact that a port is not a direct site for production processing, nor does it have a large amount of material consumption, it is, however, an important distribution center for various goods, allowing a large number of cars and ships to be engaged in transport operations, which can be a source of contamination (discharge of waste gas and rubbish) (Chen, 2009). Apart from these traffi c conveyances, there is pollution from the goods themselves such as coal dust, dangerous materials and chemicals. A Chinese study (Ma et al., 2014) showed that in 2011, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and dust from harbor districts throughout the country reached about 127 thousand tons, 146 thousand tons and 1.2 million tons respectively, contributing immensely to environmental deterioration in China. Pollution from port operation will not only damage the ecological balance of nature and the urban environment, but also cause adverse effects on global climate change, which further increases risk inport operation processes. The development of a low-carbon economy is considered to be a fundamental way to solve the problems caused by climate change. Nevertheless, ports and shipping are still lacking effective controls for emissions of greenhouse gas and the importance of sustainable development and climate change is still being ignored by most port management authorities (Wang, 2014). In view of this, the concept of fi fth-generation ports, namely green ports (or lowcarbon ports), was proposed at the United Nations climate change conference in 2009 (Wu and Ji, 2013). Therefore, the construction of green ports is a basic way to cope with global climate change and the key to addressing the problems encountered in the process of port development. On the basis of the organic combination of port development, utilization of resources and environmental protection, green ports refers to ports characterized by healthy ecological environments, reasonable utilization of resources, low energy consumption and low pollution (Chen, 2009).