Climate Action Plan

The Port of Vancouver USA is dedicated to the health of the economy, our community and the environment. For over 15 years, we have been working on sustainability initiatives through our WE CAN! Sustainability Program. We are always looking for ways to improve and do more.

Under the direction of the Port Commissioners and following a robust stakeholder engagement process, the port finalized a Climate Action Plan as a key strategy in our 2018 Strategic Plan to achieve the port’s environmental goals. This Climate Action Plan provides the Commissioners and port staff with a menu of different actions that the port will take over the coming years to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ultimately achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback, shared ideas and supported us through this process.

We support renewable energy by offsetting 100% of electricity use with renewable energy certificates & handling wind energy cargo
Charging stations at our main office support electric vehicle use, including our electric/hybrid vehicle
Our anti-idling campaign, in cooperation with Southwest Clean Air Agency, includes no-idle zone signs throughout the port
We support commute trip reduction opportunities including construction of the bicycle/pedestrian trail along State Route 501
Energy efficiency upgrades at port facilities have saved over 1 million kWh of energy use
All new buildings at Terminal 1 are to be constructed to a minimum LEED Gold Certification or better per our design standards
As part of the port's Smart Growth initiative, new buildings are certified green including solar-ready and energy efficient design

Emissions Reduction Progress

As of 2022, the port has made substantial progress towards its climate action commitments. Since finalizing the Climate Action Plan, the port has implemented several measures to reduce emissions, as summarized below.

Measuring GHG Emissions

There are three standardized ways of measuring GHG emissions:

Scope 1: Direct emissions from sources owned and controlled by the port.
Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased energy for facilities the port owns and purchases electricity for.
Scope 3: Indirect emissions from the port’s tenants, suppliers, and other aspects of its value chain. These emissions are out of the port’s direct control.

Emissions from Port-owned and Controlled Activities (Scope 1 & 2)

The following table highlights the progress the port has made towards reducing Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions since finalizing the CAP in 2021.

Scope 3 CAP Progress

Under the CAP, the port is also taking actions to support the reduction of Scope 3 emissions, those that are not a direct result of the port’s own operations, but emissions the port may influence or guide. Reduction of Scope 3 emissions requires extensive coordination with port tenants, vendors, and customers to collect the needed activity data. While not included as a measured numeric goal, Scope 3 emissions reduction actions are an important part of the CAP. The port has continued to make progress towards reducing Scope 3 emissions, including:

To reduce commuter trips, the port offers a hybrid work protocol to those employees who can telecommute. The port also worked with C-Tran to promote its service – “The Current” – to offer on-demand shuttles to the port for the same cost as fixed-route transit, expanding bus access for those commuting to port properties.
The port reduced emissions related to water use by integrating green infrastructure for stormwater management into their facilities and continues to upgrade its water system.
LED lighting was implemented in a tenant occupied port building in 2022, which included replacing 3200-watt bulbs with 560-watt LED bulbs. Evaluations for future upgrades were performed with Clark Public Utilities for four additional tenant-occupied buildings.
The port completed HVAC upgrades for four tenant-occupied buildings, replacing a total of eight natural-gas fired HVAC units with all-electric units.
The port has added climate considerations to its Continuous Operational Assessment and Response (COAR) process to assess upcoming leases and projects. Language was added to new lease templates to include sharing energy use information from tenant-controlled buildings with the port to assist collaborations on Scope 3 emissions reduction planning.
Shore power is utilized at Berths 13 and 14. The port completed the rehabilitation of the Terminal 5 dock (Berth 17). This former Alcoa dock can host up to two layberth vessels which includes shore power capabilities anticipated to reduce GHG emissions by approximately 370,000 MT CO2e. The dock design at Terminal 1 allows for future addition of shore power to cruise ships.

To read the Climate Action Plan click here:

Web Version Print Version

En Español

Para leer el Plan de Acción Climática en Español, haga clic aquí

Para leer el Acción Climática Preguntas Frecuentes en Español, haga clic aquí

To learn more about Climate Action Plan progress, read our 2023 Sustainability Report: 2023 Sustainability Report

For questions or feedback regarding Climate Action Plan efforts, please contact:

Della Graham

Environmental Program Manager

Email: info@portvanusa.com

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We are making steady progress towards our 2030 reduction target.

As of 2019, the port has reduced Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 619 MTCO2e per year, which is approximately 38% from our 2005 baseline. This reduction is equivalent to GHG emissions from 147 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year. You can learn more by reading our Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Summary for 2019.

Note-During review of the 2019 inventory, it was determined that a few emissions had been double-counted and an imprecise electricity emission factor was used, which resulted in an annual emissions value of 1,063 MTCO2e to be initially reported on this webpage. The findings have been corrected and the above graphic represents the actual emissions for 2019.

Grant Funding Efforts

The port is actively applying for grant funding to advance its Climate Action Plan efforts and reduce GHG emissions.

In 2024, the port was awarded a grant through the Department of Ecology’s Air Quality VW Diesel to Zero Emissions Equipment grant program. This program provides grant funds to replace diesel equipment with all-electric equipment. The port’s $318,273 grant will help replace a 1978 diesel forklift with an all-electric forklift. The port will provide a 20% match and scrap the old forklift.

Current forklift which will be replaced and scrapped.

Also in 2024, the port was awarded a $180,000 grant through the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Electric Vehicle Charging Grant Program. Through this grant, the port will install nine level 2 chargers on the port terminals.

A pending grant request was submitted to the EPA’s Clean Ports Zero Emissions Technology Deployment Grant Program in May 2024. The port’s $22.5 Million request is to fund the purchase of two electric mobile harbor cranes, the infrastructure to power the e-cranes and shore power installation at the Terminal 1 dock for cruise vessels. If awarded, the port will contribute a $2.5M match for the federal grant.