Op-Ed: Clean Ports Program grants for extreme weather

Dr. Robert Moorcroft

By Dr. Robert Moorcroft, Senior Carbon Reduction Scientist, Tunley Environmental

In November, the U.S. ports industry received one of the biggest injections of investment ever seen when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released nearly $3 billion as part of its Clean Ports Program. The grants, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, are designed to support the deployment of zero-emission equipment, as well as infrastructure and climate and air quality planning projects across 53 inland and coastal ports.

While much attention was focused on how the funding could be used to deploy electric cargo handling equipment, shore power for docked ships, and infrastructure upgrades, another essential element of the funding is for climate resilience planning. Several ports now have this funding, offering the resources to produce a comprehensive plan to make their ports more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has confirmed that 2024 is the warmest year on record, at 1.55 °C above pre-industrial levels. Scientists at the Independent Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) set the 1.5 °C target to reduce some of the deadliest effects of climate change. For example, many irreversible ‘tipping points’ for ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica occur between 1.5 and 2.0 °C.

At any temperature increase, a clear, direct impact is increased precipitation, with the atmosphere capable of holding 7% more moisture with every degree of warming. This in turn increases both the frequency and intensity of flood events, one of the climate risks ports are already preparing for. Other climate risks include more frequent and intense hurricanes, wildfires, and heat waves, all of which have an impact on ports. The definition of climate resilience is the capacity to recover from extreme events, which will clearly become increasingly important.

At Tunley Environmental, we have been carrying out emissions inventories, net zero plans for ports, and are now advising ports on the process of carrying out a climate resilience plan. Once a team is formed for climate resilience planning, the following steps offer best practice:

1. Explore the hazards unique to the port.
2. Assess the port’s vulnerability and the risks to operations.
3. Investigate mitigation options
4. Prioritize mitigation steps
5. Carry out the plan, take action, and review regularly.

Resilience planning requires ports to assess risks and vulnerabilities, to implement a series of measures to protect infrastructure and assets, to train workforces, and to develop contingency plans that minimize disruptions and enable operations to bounce back quickly once an extreme weather event has passed.

Many ports have experienced the challenges first-hand, and recognize that if they are not climate resilient, they are exposed to significant risk.  When a port with little resilience faces a catastrophic storm or hurricane that blows in and takes out power, equipment, and buildings, there is an immediate loss of revenue, loss of reputation, and increased difficulty in securing future insurance coverage.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is one agency that has resilience plans in place, assessing and addressing the risks posed by the rise in sea levels, increased precipitation and increasing temperatures. With knowledge of these risks, and a thorough plan in place, the Port Authority is in a strong position to combat the effects of climate change, protect infrastructure and recover quickly from extreme weather events.

Inland waterway ports are especially vulnerable to flooding disruption. With increased rainfall, the Mississippi and its tributaries are at risk, with catastrophic flooding in 1993 followed by serious flooding incidents in 1997, 2008, 2011, and 2013. Meanwhile, in 2019 severe flooding on the upper Mississippi created billions of dollars of damage for farmers and massive disruption to ports. Inland ports and river towns most at risk to climate change and flooding today include New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Greenville, Memphis, St. Louis, Cairo, Kansas City, Omaha, and Sioux City.

Recognizing the threats, former U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law on January 4 the Waterway Resources Development Act of 2024, which boosts the federal cost-share for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund from 65 percent to 75 percent. The act authorizes more than 200 feasibility studies and 22 new or modified construction projects by the US Army Corps of Engineers to manage the waterways. This includes work on the aging network of levees and floodwalls, many of which are past their life expectancy or are simply not designed for the increased strain of higher water volumes.

We should not underestimate the scale of the task facing the Army Corps, which has submitted a budget request of $7.22 billion for civil works in 2025. There is a massive backlog of $800 million in ongoing unfunded projects alone with further planned construction costs of $6 billion. With the Army Corps at full stretch, it will be crucial for ports to fully engage with them as part of climate resilience planning. 

But stakeholder engagement should also take in all the private businesses operating at the port to ensure resilience planning is comprehensive, tested, and mapped. The best crisis planning foresees problems in advance to prevent the crisis from ever happening. Consequently, it is imperative that your plan includes having trusted sub-contractors in place to help you restore operations after extreme weather. Your agreements should ensure your contractors are available to your port as a priority client. Any climate resilience plan should further ensure you have a ready inventory of replacement backup equipment, so you can keep operations running. You must not be left waiting for supplies at a time of peak demand.

While the maritime industry is facing a global challenge with urgent calls around the world to put robust climate resilience plans into place, some have already completed and implemented those plans such as the Netherlands where most of the country is either at, or below sea-level.

Looking forward, collaboration and knowledge-sharing will be fundamental to finding new, innovative, and sustainable solutions and ensuring the long-term future of the industry in the face of growing climate challenges.