Green Marine and AIVP for the social acceptability of ports

Green Marine and the Worldwide Network of Port Cities (AIVP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding last week to combine efforts to promote the social acceptability of ports.

The agreement, signed at the conclusion of AIVP Annual General Meeting at the start of the organization’s 16th World Conference in Quebec City until Thursday, will serve as a framework for cooperation to encourage and improve port relations with the community.

“AIVP is delighted with this new collaboration for the sustainable development of ports and the cities that welcome them,” said Philippe Matthis, AIVP president. “Through this agreement, we want to pool our knowledge and encourage our respective members to favour a global approach: environmental and societal.”

“Our two organizations advance constructive city-port relationships and the collaborative model,” added David Bolduc, Green Marine’s executive director. “Green Marine will build on AIVP’s expertise in the field of the city-port-citizenry relations, and through the analysis of its tools, such as the Port Center online interface to communicate a port’s missions and projects, to develop its new indicator on social acceptability.”

The two organizations are seeking to establish a productive working relationship through this agreement and, towards this end, waived each other’s association membership fees. Green Marine is now an AIVP partner, while AIVP becomes an associate member of the Green Marine Management Corporation. Green Marine and AIVP also intend to collaborate in the promotion of their respective actions within each of their networks.

About AIVP

Today with nearly 200 members representing more than 2,000 sustainable development actors in port cities throughout nearly 50 countries on five continents, the AIVP continues to advance operational and strategic thinking on the modalities of the relationship between a city and a port, and between a port and a city. AIVP supports its members in the implementation of new strategies to enable them to better face announced changes that affect the economic, social and environmental development of the port city: urban-port integration, global reorganization of economic channels, the challenge of societal integration, climate change, energy transition, dynamics of the cruise market, etc.

Green Marine Overview

Established in 2007, Green Marine is a North American environmental certification program for the maritime transportation industry. The program stems from the industry’s voluntary initiative to surpass regulatory requirements. There are currently more than 120 companies – ship owners, port authorities, terminal operators and shipyard managers – participating in the program throughout Canada and the United States. The Green Marine certification process is rigorous and transparent: the results are independently verified every two years, and each participant’s individual results are published annually. The Green Marine program’s unique character derives from the support of more than 65 environmental organizations, scientific programs, and government agencies. These supporters contribute to shaping and revising the program.