Shandong Port Group announces its green and low-carbon development plan in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) at a news conference on June 5 in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Shandong Port Group announced its green and low-carbon development plan in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) at a news conference on June 5 in Qingdao city in East China's Shandong province. It was the first operator in the nation's port and shipping sector to issue such plan.

The move by SPG – one of the biggest port operators in the world – is widely regarded as being a major step towards the central authorities achieving their targets of peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality.

Since its founding, SPG has set itself the development goal of building internationally advanced smart and green ports, logistics hubs, ports for industry and city integration, finance and trade ports and cultural and tourism cruise ports.

In 2020, SPG was selected as the country's first pilot unit for constructing smart ports approved by the Ministry of Transport and it subsequently held the Conference on Promoting World-Class Smart and Green Ports Development in Shandong.

In the wake of China last year setting the strategic goal of reaching peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, SPG issued a development plan for the construction of green and low-carbon ports – also exploring ways to reduce pollution and carbon emissions amid the 14th Five-Year Plan period and beyond.

SPG reportedly delivered exceptional achievements in constructing smart and green ports during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20). In terms of clean energy, SPG was also credited with taking the lead in introducing the world's first hydrogen-powered automatic stacking crane. By taking such measures, the proportion of SPG's clean energy grew from 38 percent in the early stages of the 13th Five-Year Plan period to 45 percent in the late 13th Five-Year Plan period.

In terms of green transportation, SPG has promoted intermodal sea-rail transportation, with capacity in that field exceeding 2.1 million TEUs last year, maintaining its top position among China's coastal ports.

Meanwhile, the group's Rizhao Port completed China's first ecological seashore project, turning a port area into a sightseeing site.

To top it off, SPG independently built the Qingdao Port Fully Automated Container Terminal, which is fully electric and has zero emissions. The terminal has since become a benchmark for constructing smart and green ports.

The 14th Five-Year Plan period is seen as a critical stage in China's ecological and environmental conservation. It is also seen as a turning point for its high-quality green and low-carbon development of ports nationwide and for SPG to build world-class seaports.

The development plan, jointly formulated by SPG and the China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, is expected to serve as a guideline for SPG's green and low-carbon development during the period.

The plan is projected to boost the transformation and upgrading of SPG, improve its core competitiveness and help SPG become a pathfinder for advancing green and low-carbon development in the port and shipping industry – both nationwide and worldwide.