Commitment 02Read more
Energy Transition and the Circular Economy
Innovative and sustainable solutions for energy and industry in city-port regions
Giving priority to circular economy projects as part of new partnerships between the city, port, businesses and civil society, and by supporting the development of port activities aimed at promoting exchanges and/or recycling of materials and energy.
Deploying City Port synergies around the circular economy.
The battle against climate change necessitates innovative strategies to enhance the energy efficiency of both ports and cities. One approach, industrial ecology, hinges on collaborative efforts among social and economic actors who pool resources. It is rooted in sustainable development principles, striving to combat pollution and reduce resource and energy consumption. Using the heat created by industrial steam of the port areas creates a sustainable synergy between the port activities and the local population of the port. This is the case with the Pernis Residual Heat Initiative where the company Shell and the port authority of Rotterdam collaborated to find a sustainable solution for heating the city without using the burning of fossil fuels, but rather by using the already generated heat that was created by industrial activities of the port and unused.
This good practice also includes objective 4.4 (Developing collaborative approaches, drawing on scientific and technologic knowledge from the scientific community and civil society to support decision making) of the AIVP’s 2030 Agenda.
The Project Irisphere was first launched under EU Interreg program to test the concept of industrial ecology in a specific site. In 2015, the project was expanded to a regional scale, coordinated by Citydev.Brussels, the regional public development company. The aim of Irishpere is to stimulate the development of circular economy in Brussels-Capital Region by guiding companies, improving the circularity of materials and increasing cooperation at regional level. One of the main action fields has been the recycling of construction materials, such as concrete, wood or carpet. The Irisphere project includes several important partners, such as the Port of Brussels and Brussels Port Community are focusing their cooperation on concrete material, since it has the one highest environmental impact but also, the highest potential gains. This cooperation is visible in a new project currently under development: a concrete recycling line installed on the waterway, allowing flows to circulate easily on the canal between the concrete mixers and the recycling centre. This would be the first of its kind in Belgium and the second in Europe and the world.
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