Identification and selection of environmental performance indicators (EPIs) for use in the management of European seaports

Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs), the information tools that summarise data on complex environmental issues to show overall status and trends, are becoming increasingly significant as port authorities come under more pressure to demonstrate compliance with legislation and to justify their credentials or licence to operate. Environmental Performance Indicators can be particularly useful both to the authority and to a wide range of stakeholders in providing evidence of progress and the achievement of environmental objectives. In addition, the use of effective EPIs may contribute to cost and risk reduction, review of the effectiveness of an authority’s Environmental Management System, and act as an early warning system. The thesis identifies a comprehensive inventory of existing Environmental Performance Indicators in use in the seaport sector for monitoring performance of operational (e.g. dust, noise, dredging, waste), managerial (e.g. certification, compliance, complaints) and environmental condition (e.g. air, water, soil, sediment and ecosystems). Specific examples are given of practicable, informative, and representative indicators of portspecific issues. These indicators have been filtered against specific criteria and have been assessed and evaluated by port stakeholders in order to obtain a final set of indicators suitable to be implemented at EU level. A user friendly tool has been developed specifically to assist port authorities in calculating and reporting the proposed indicators. European port authorities were encouraged to adopt this tool as a part of their environmental management and to provide data on their environmental performance. The results confirm the general feasibility and acceptability of the proposed indicators and provide a benchmark performance of the European port sector. The thesis demonstrates that a culture of monitoring and reporting environmental indicators is in place and the sector could readily be encouraged to populate the proposed European Port Observatory with meaningful EPI data