San Diego: able to face extreme climate disasters before 2035

As the pandemic is still raging in the United States, another crisis is underlying, more silent but even more dangerous: climate change. Its formidable consequences have already impacted parts of the United States during the past years, such as California which has faced terrible giga-fires in 2018 and 2020. Californian port cities have taken up this challenge, and among them San Diego is often highlighted for its impressive efforts on climate change adaptation. A carbon neutral and resilient port-city: this is the ambition Port of San Diego’s executive board has been putting forward for many years on now. San Diego is the fourth largest port in California after LA-LB and the third for cruise traffic. Environmental preservation is a key-role Port of San Diego plays carefully. In line with Goal n°1 of our AIVP Agenda 2030, we wanted to discuss about the sustainability and the resiliency of the waterfront with Michael Zucchet, 2021 Chairman of the Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners. Port of San Diego is a member of AIVP since 2015. Solutions to reduce Co2 emissions AIVP - You have made clear that one of your top commitments is the reduction of San Diego’s carbon impact and cleaner air. Your port authority wants to incentivize as much as possible the use of renewable energies and alternative fuels, to meet the goals of your Climate Action Plan and “Maritime Clean Air Strategy”. Technical measures such as microgrid or battery storage are also key to optimize energy consumption. Could you tell us more about your solutions to reduce air pollution and carbon/greenhouse gas emissions? Michael Zucchet, 2021 Chairman of the Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners - Our jurisdiction encompasses 34 miles of waterfront around San Diego Bay and borders five cities, so it is vital that we are a good neighbor and that we champion investment in and deployment of new clean air technologies to reduce maritime emissions and improve overall air quality. It’s important not only in respect to climate change, but also to ensure that everyone who lives, works and plays on and around San Diego Bay has cleaner air to breathe. North Bay looking South © Port of San Diego To be a cleaner and greener port, we must set clear goals, aspirations and expectations for ourselves and for the people who do and want to do business with the Port of San Diego. And we need to plan strategically rather than on a project-by-project basis to set ourselves up for success.To help us set goals and prioritize projects to further reduce maritime-related emissions and improve air quality, we are working with our stakeholders, partners and neighboring communities to develop a Maritime Clean Air Strategy, or MCAS. It will help us to determine which of our efforts are economically feasible – like developing a short-haul, multi-phased on-road electric drayage truck program for one or more routes to/from our terminal, or replacing higher-emitting cargo handling equipment with zero and near-zero cargo handling equipment. It will also help to clarify the role we can play in supporting our tenants and terminal operations with transitioning to zero and near-zero technologies. The MCAS will be an extension of our Climate Action Plan, which establishes greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. We adopted the plan in 2013 and were among the first ports in the U.S. to put a Climate Action Plan in place. We’ve been successful so far, achieving our 2020 10-percent reduction target by 2016 with an 18 percent decrease in emissions from 2006 levels. We’re now working to update our Climate Action Plan to ensure goal alignment with post-2020 targets set by the State of California. The State of California has a goal of carbon neutrality by 2045. Because climate change is a significant threat to our region’s prosperity, we are contributing to regional efforts to advance carbon neutrality in our region even earlier. San Diego County is developing a framework for a Regional Carbon Sustainability plan in partnership with the University of California San Diego. The framework will include strategies and initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality in the region by 2035. We are contributing by providing information on sources of emissions that are unique to ports such as goods movement vessels, vehicles and equipment. This kind of regional collaboration is essential to advance interconnected strategies and to achieve results.You mentioned our microgrid, which will provide backup power to port-operated facilities on one…