Mitigating Pollution from Cruise Ships: Analysing the Environmental Port Index

Cruise ship tourism is a growing econmic industry worldwide that has faced criticism due to its environmental footprint. With the increased number of cruise ships calling Icelandic ports, increased air emissions from port operations need mitigating. The Environmental Port Index (EPI) is a financial incentive system designed in Norway, that allows ports to regulate cruise ships calling their ports to reduce their environmental impact. Being implemented in Faxaflóahafnir as the first Icelandic port in 2023, the EPI might be a useful instrument for more Icelandic ports to mitigate their operational environmental footprint. This research aims to analyse the EPI as a policy instrument, how it works, what it is responding to and how it might be a useful tool for more ports to introduce in their operation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from key stakeholders to gain a broad perspective of the index, its functions and to evaluate its possible benefits and shortcomings. Characterized by general positive perception of the EPI, the stakeholders had varying knowledge about the index’s function and purpose. The research argues that EPI being a good fit for Icelandic ports to mitigate air emission from cruise ships, suggesting that the instrument should be implement systematically around the country. However, EPI is rather new, and little has yet been published on the topic, therefore, further research on its instruments relevance and effectiveness is needed.

Author dc:creator

• Karen Jónasdóttir 1995-

Contributors dc:contributor

• Háskóli Íslands

• Umhverfis- og auðlindafræði
• Umhverfisfræði
• Mengun
• Skemmtiferðaskip

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1946/44450

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:skemman.is:1946/44450