Climate Change and Ports

ABPmer is undertaking a project on behalf of Associated British Ports (ABP) to help determine the risks and opportunities posed to ABP ports and businesses as a result of climate change. As climate change science is advancing all the time it is important that ABP are aware of the implications to ports and shipping.

Factors being looked at include changes to sea level, storminess, temperature and rainfall. Currently a scoping report is being produced, which aims to broadly assess the risks and opportunities for ABP arising from climate change and informs the direction of future research. To establish the themes of the report a scoping meeting with ABP's sustainability department was held, which identified a large range of issues including flooding, navigation, stresses on moorings, opportunities to generate greenhouse gas free electricity and changes to shipping routes. The work is a review of an earlier report produced in 2003. The scoping report will be completed in September 2007 and its results will contribute to a future issue of the Marine Climate Change Impact Partnership (MCCIP) annual report card, as the current understanding of the impacts of climate change on ports and shipping is limited.

For more information contact
shunt@abpmer.co.uk