CANBERRA: The Australian Marine Environment Protection Association (AUSMEPA) has won support for its new Port Emissions Portal from an unlikely source. Google.org has selected the portal, which addresses the current lack of essential ship emissions data for the shipping industry, as a finalist for the Google Impact Challenge.
As a finalist, the portal will be given a grant of A$250,000 ($192,000) and if selected as one of four “big ideas for a better world” will be given an additional A$500,000 funding. The portal utilises satellite tracking and a big data approach, and enables ports and their stakeholders to measure air quality and changing air patterns throughout the port environs.
Warwick Norman, AUSMEPA chairman and CEO of RightShip, commented: “AUSMEPA’s clear mandate is to protect Australia’s maritime environment, and one of the biggest challenges we are facing is climate change. This is not just a local issue, however action has to start at a local level. With shipping’s exclusion from the COP21 global agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, we are taking a leading role in providing the industry with effective solutions.” AUSMEPA says the project will be scaled up to over 170 countries, connecting over 3,000 ports, and will improve the knowledge of air emissions associated with shipping activities in port.
