To mark Earth Day, it is a pleasure for us to offer an overview of our 2019 achievements, soon to be published in our Sustainability Report. In all, 145 sustainable development actions were successfully completed in 2019. They include:
- The planting of 300 trees on Port territory;
- A shoreline cleanup operation in Contrecœur that collected about 300 kg of waste;
- Forty-two (42) vessels refuelled with liquid natural gas (LNG) in 2019 bringing to 74 the number of LNG bunkering operations since 2017, thereby avoiding 21,000 tonnes of GHG emissions;
- More than 1,300 tonnes of GHG emissions avoided due to connecting the Veendam and eight other wintering ships to shore power;
- Four (4) projects in collaboration with the St. Lawrence Action Fund (SLAF) to preserve Purple Martin colonies, restor and conserve wetlands, control common water reeds and develop the Important Bird Area (IBA) in the Îles de Contrecoeur National Wildlife Area;
- A cooperation agreement with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to create a National Wildlife Area on the Boucherville Islands, which the MPA administers;
- An urban beekeeping initiative with the installation of two beehives.
We are proud to see our actions producing results. Our GHG emissions have dropped 22% in intensity over the last seven years, down close to 3% per year.
In fact, the scope of our actions earned a perfect score in the prestigious Green Marine certification process for the 2019 report on our achievements!