Green businesses: The Panama Canal bet in which everybody wins

The environment is one of the main winners of the expansion of the Panama Canal. To move more cargo with less ships is just one of the benefits for the planet and the economy, but the potential for green businesses is enormous, and by means of a non-reimbursable technical cooperation from CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, the Authority of the Panama Canal (ACP, for its acronym in Spanish), the scheme of benefits with which everybody wins is ready. 

A consultancy financed by CAF first made the estimates of the carbon footprint resulting from the operation of the Canal in 2013 under the standards of the Greenhouse Gases Protocol. Thus, the base indicators were established as a starting point. Later, the ACP received training so that they could measure the annual carbon footprint autonomously. In addition, some initiatives were proposed that would add value to the Route as a result of the crossing of ships with a high environmental performance.

With this diagnosis, the ACP will strengthen the strategy of the Green Route of the Canal through the creation of a Plan for the Reduction of the Carbon Footprint in 10 years; the evaluation, design, and execution of new energy generation projects; the evaluation of efficiency measures and reduction of consumption; execution of self-generation pilot projects with solar or wind powered energy; the strengthening of the awareness campaign, as well as training for the ACP staff to internalize the concept of carbon footprint, how it is determined, and how we can all contribute to reduce it, among other initiatives. 

Enrique Garcia, the Institution's Executive President, stated, "Sustainable development is one of CAF's objectives. For this reason, in addition to financing USD 300 million in expansion works for the Canal, we contribute knowledge and tools so that it is the Panamanians themselves who promote the conservation of the environment and award those who conduct best practices to reduce the carbon footprint and the emission of greenhouse gasses". 

The recognition of the ships with a high environmental performance will be based on the scheme of the "Green Connection" program. Recognition will be given to those ships that comply with the following parameters: the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), standards for engines with low nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx), and the use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as fuel.  

Jorge Luis Quijano, Administrator of the Panama Canal, highlighted, "the Neopanamax ships that will go through our Green Routes will be more efficient in the use of fuel and location, which will help reduce emissions and other contaminating compounds. The Panama Canal Green Route with its expanded canal will further the possibility of continuing to shorten distances and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). These facts contribute and outline new prospects for the Panama Canal, both for its operations as well as for the promotion of sustainable development". 

When taking as an example the route between Shanghai, in China, and Nueva York, in the United States, a Neopanamax ship with 8,000 containers covers 10,582 kilometers if it uses the Panama Canal, but if it used the Suez Canal, it would cover 2,000 additional kilometers. With a shorter route, the ship saves fuel and would stop producing close to 1,342 tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the contamination produced by 5,800 trucks covering a distance of 97 kilometers each. 

According to official statistics, in the past 100 years the Green Route of the Panama Canal has contributed to the reduction of approximately 650 million tons of carbon dioxide. With the expanded canal, it is estimated that the route across the Panama Canal will reduce more than 160 million tons of CO2 in the 10 first years of operation. The calculations for this emissions will help choose the route not only based on cost variables, but also considering other environmental factors, which will place Panama as a main route. 

CAF's support for the expansion of the Panama Canal is comprehensive through financing, knowledge and advice in the areas of logistics, agro-industry, and environmental sustainability, among others, seeking to promote the development and productive transformation of all the regions in Panama.