Adapting the Green Marine Europe framework for ports: the contribution of Port Atlantique La Rochelle

In 2024, Green Marine Europe (GME) launched a process to adapt its environmental certification framework for ports. This initiative continues into 2025, marked by a kick-off meeting held on March 4, and aims to see the first ports certified by 2026.

True to its collaborative approach, GME is conducting this project alongside maritime stakeholders, including three ports: Port Atlantique La Rochelle, Bordeaux Port, and the Port of Bilbao. These ports are contributing their expertise to adapting the framework for the European port sector. Still, they are not currently engaged in a GME certification process.

Today, we focus on the motivations behind Port Atlantique La Rochelle's support for this initiative.

Port Atlantique La Rochelle: a multimodal port

As the sixth largest French port by tonnage, with over 8.4 million tonnes of cargo handled in 2024, Port Atlantique La Rochelle is ISO 14001 certified and implements a structured CSR approach.

In 2024, nearly 1.1 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail—representing 13% of its modal share—demonstrating the port’s commitment to more sustainable logistics. With a strategic location on the Atlantic coast, 283 hectares of land (including over 50 hectares of available land), and facilities serving a wide range of sectors (petroleum products, grains, construction materials, agricultural bulk, etc.), the port plays a key role in the development of environmentally responsible maritime and multimodal transport.

Its involvement in adapting GME’s indicators to the port sector is a natural extension of its CSR strategy, motivated by three main considerations: the structuring nature of GME for the maritime industry, the opportunity to leverage North American feedback, and the professional focus of the GME framework.

Contributing to a structuring initiative for the European maritime sector

Port Atlantique La Rochelle demonstrates its interest in structuring initiatives within the maritime sector by participating in the co-development of the Green Marine Europe framework for ports. “This is an opportunity to share our on-the-ground experience while exploring a framework under construction, backed by international expertise through Green Marine International,” explains Bernard PLISSON, Director of Strategy and Ecological Transition.

Leveraging North American experience

As the European arm of Green Marine International, alongside Green Marine for North America (Canada/USA), Green Marine Europe provides maritime and port stakeholders access to an internationally recognized evaluation framework. This structure offers the chance to draw on over 15 years of North American experience while adapting to European specificities.

Contributing to a professionally oriented framework for targeted environmental performance

Adapting the framework for ports does not aim for regulatory exhaustiveness but rather for prioritising environmental challenges to focus efforts on high-value indicators. The goal is to build a relevant reference framework that clearly distinguishes between existing regulatory obligations and the real levers ports can activate to make progress.

Key priority areas identified include:

• A global vision of greenhouse gas emissions across the port logistics chain,
• Tangible reduction of biodiversity impacts,
• Improved energy performance of port infrastructure,
• And showcasing the driving role of ports in the environmental transition of supply chains.

Port Atlantique La Rochelle’s involvement in Green Marine Europe’s work is part of a continuous drive for innovation and environmental improvement. By combining the expertise and needs of European ports, this collaborative effort is helping to build a robust and adaptable tool that promotes performance and transparency.