Ports around the world are already experiencing the consequences of air and water temperature increases, rising sea levels and changes in seasonal precipitation, wind, and wave patterns. From a global perspective, the climate change effects associated with global warming are projected to escalate in coming decades and already represent a significant risk to business, operations, safety, and infrastructure. Therefore, is an urgent matter for ports to act to strengthen resilience and adapt to future climate conditions.
Following its sustainability strategy, the Port Administration took the lead and coordinated a Working Group to address climate resilience at Port of Açu. The project was developed in collaboration with terminal operators – Ferroport, Vast Infraestrutura and GNA -, Port of Antwerp International and technical support of Deltares, and enabled a comprehensive assessment of the port’s overall infrastructure and key operations facing future climate scenarios and the identification of its vulnerabilities.
The project evaluated future climate scenarios for the port region and estimated the vulnerability under these to define potential adaptation strategies. The results were incorporated by the Port Administration into future port planning, providing technical grounds for investments, engineering designs, and enhanced port competitiveness and resilience.
The methodology of the climate resilience study applied at the Port of Açu can be used for evaluating climate vulnerability and adaptation in other ports and it contributes to SDGs 9, 11 and 13. It emphasizes the importance of using local analysis as it differentiates local effects of climate change from global averages and enables identifying and estimating the susceptibility of port’s key operations, assets, and infrastructure, planning adaptation and increasing resilience.