Plans for 2024 and climate strategies discussed during BPO’s Board meeting

The Baltic Ports Organization’s (BPO) Board gathered yesterday during a stationary session in Stockholm, Sweden. The topics discussed included plan of activities for 2024 and climate port strategies and investments.

Magdalena Bosson, CEO of the Ports of Stockholm and Staffan Forsell, Chief Strategy and Development Officer spoke about the City of Stockholm as a leader in Europe's climate transition and the role of the port in that process. Among the 5 EU missions with a deadline for implementation by 2030, ‘the 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030’ was particularly mentioned.

BPO Work Plan 2024 was one of the main topics discussed at the BPO Board meeting. The organization will organize, among others, several key events: BPO Ports for OWF held during Transport Week 2024 in Gdynia, Poland, Ports 4.0 Conference in Riga, Latvia, Baltic Ports Conference in Klaipeda, Lithuania and BPO Climate Conference in Tallinn, Estonia. The plan of BPO activities for 2024 was approved by the Board.

An important point of the discussion were also green energy, alternative fuels and climate issues, including OPS and related challenges: financing, lack of standardization and other barriers. The meeting involved an exchange of views on the situation in the ports, especially in terms of the impact of the recent economic and environmental aspects. The BPO Board also approved the budget for the next year.

Bogdan Ołdakowski, BPO Secretary General said: ”The organization has very recently adopted the BPO Ystad Climate Declaration. Our activities will focus on climate strategies, investments and also challenges when meeting climate goals. During the meeting we learned how the City of Stockholm and the port, being a part of the municipality entity, is aiming to achieve the climate neutrality in 2030. We have also talked over investments in OPS installations in ports, which are obligatory for passengers and container vessels by 2030. The discussion proved that such investments are costly and complex issues involving many stakeholders in the port ecosystem.”