Original publication: https://www.greendealstargate.eu/news/eu-green-deals-for-greener-ports-and-airports-build-bridges-towards-close-cooperation/
January 31st, 2023 – The effect of joining forces with the different EU Green Deals pursuing the same objective is greater than the sum of these individual projects. That is why Stargate invited OLGA, TULIPS, MAGPIE and PIONEERS, the other Green Deals for greener ports and airports, to an intensive working session exploring the opportunities for close collaboration across project boundaries. After an exciting speed dating session and thematic discussions on various themes, including hydrogen, green mobility and digitalisation, the five projects concluded the day with a backpack full of new insights and concrete plans for future visits and exchanges.
What do all five EU Green Deals for greener (air)ports have in common? Valuable partnerships, a great deal of innovative projects and ambitions that reach far beyond the scope of their projects. But also: the same challenges in terms of new techniques, legislation, financing and business cases. Prior to the meeting, the participants selected three projects from each of the programmes to focus on during the speed dating session. Various partners agreed to meet again and set up expert working groups concerning hydrogen, KPIs, master planning and e-learnings.
Inge De Wolf and Pieter Vandermeeren, PIONEERS: “Today’s gathering really felt like a mirror to look at ourselves not only from a port perspective, but also departing from the ecosystem of an airport – an environment with which we have much more in common than we could have expected, both in terms of technical innovations and in regard to roles and responsibilities.”
Ben Bouzon, TULIPS: “We already benefit from a successful collaboration between the airport projects, but today clearly showed that there is great potential in closer cooperation between ports and airports as well.”
Christel Vandenhouten and Charlotte Verreydt, Stargate: “It was utterly interesting to get in touch with other airports and ports to enlarge our network and to identify opportunities for collaboration, both within and outside of the EU Green Deal. Since all of these projects are created within the same framework, we are facing the same challenges – but we might be tackling them in different ways.”
Maaike Dalhuisen, MAGPIE: “We enjoyed so many interesting conversations today and learned all about what the other projects are occupied with. About one year into the EU Green Deal, the timing could not have been better.”
Yannael Billard, OLGA: “It was a very intensive day, we enjoyed the opportunity to share our progress on topics such as hydrogen and low carbon mobility while at the same time learning from the other sister projects.”
More information can be found on the project websites: tulips-greenairports.eu pioneers-ports.eu magpie-ports.eu