• During the meeting, the partners have presented the first project results related to the Mapping of EU Ports.

• The circular economy activities identified in the 480 EU ports include the core and comprehensive ports, relevant fishing ports and marinas as well as some other ports of interest.

12th April 2019.- Yesterday the second internal meeting of the European project “LOOP-Ports – Circular Economy Network of Ports” took place in the facilities of Copenhagen Malmö Port.

The LOOP-Ports project, which is coordinated by the Fundación Valenciaport and funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) through the EIT Climate-KIC initiative, has as main goal to facilitate the transition to a more circular economy in the port sector, where products, materials and resources are maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the waste generation minimised.

During the meeting, the partners have discussed about the first project results related to the Mapping of EU Ports. In particular, the circular economy activities identified in the 480 EU ports analysed – and belonging to 23 countries – have been presented. More than 100 circular economy activities have been identified under topics such as waste management, ship building, dredging activities, industrial symbiosis, etc. This list includes the core and comprehensive ports, relevant fishing ports and marinas as well as some other ports of interest.

One of the objectives of this meeting was to analyse the progress of creating a Network of ports that could take advantage of the project’s results, including the development of business models and their replicability in other ports with similar characteristics, as well as tailored training activities for the staff working at the port cluster. Currently the network consists of 31 port stakeholders and more are expected in the coming months.

Some presentations from external actors have been given during the event. Petra König, Environmental Manager at Copenhagen Malmö Port and Irene del Barrio, from the Water and Marine Group of the European Environment Agency have explained to the partners their ongoing initiatives related to circular economy from a port approach.

The next steps of the project will be to analyse the main drivers (legal, policy, regulation, market structures, finance, etc.) that can boost the development of circular economy activities in port ecosystems. Moreover, 30 workshops (20 at port level and 10 at institutional level) will be carried out between the end of this year and the end of 2020. These workshops will be celebrated in, at least, 6 countries which are Denmark, Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany and Italy with the participation of the stakeholders included in the network in order to put together some initiatives and gather feedback regarding circular economy activities in ports.

LOOP-Ports involves 13 partners from 6 EU Member States (Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark and Netherlands): Fundación Valenciaport (coordinator); EIT Climate-KIC S.L.; Climate-KIC S.r.l.; Climate-KIC GmbH; Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU); NTU International A/S; Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (TNO); Università di Bologna; Universität Hamburg; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; Universitat de València; Eco Environnement Ingenièrie (2EI) and Veolia Innove.

The project will be run for just over 2 years (26 months), ending in November 2020.

About EIT Climate-KIC

EIT Climate-KIC is the EU’s largest public private partnership addressing climate change through innovation to build a zero carbon economy.  EIT Climate-KIC is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

We address climate change across four priority themes: urban areas, land use, production systems, climate metrics and finance. Education is at the heart of these themes to inspire and empower the next generation of climate leaders.

We run programmes for students, start-ups and innovators across Europe via centres in major cities, convening a community of the best people and organisations.

Our approach starts with improving the way people live in cities. Our focus on industry creates the products required for a better living environment, and we look to optimise land use to produce the food people need.