Seas to Skies Conference: A Successful Summit for a Greener Future

The five “EU Green Deal” projects for airports - Stargate, OLGA and TULIPS – and ports – PIONEERS, Magpie – gathered in the Skyhall at Brussels Airport and in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp for the Seas to Skies Conference. This two-day event, held on December 3rd and 4th, 2024, brought together industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators to exchange experiences on how to accelerate the green transition of Europe’s ports and airports.

The Sea to Skies Conference showcased the collective efforts of the five EU Green Deal projects, demonstrating how they are working together to drive innovation and sustainable practices. These projects are co-funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, managed by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency. By fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing, Seas to Skies has empowered participants to commonly address the pressing challenges facing the two sectors and propose unified solutions not only within the consortium for each individual project, but also across the projects and sectors.

Green Deal Projects: Delivering Real-World Impact

The projects presented at the conference highlighted the tangible benefits of a sustainable approach. These pioneering initiatives are already making a significant impact by reducing emissions, enhancing energy efficiency, and improving the overall environmental performance of ports and airports.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Herald Ruijters, Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, remarked: “Airports and ports are vital hubs for passengers and freight across our trans-European transport network. Through Horizon 2020, we are contributing €125 million to five innovative projects aimed at accelerating the deployment of sustainable fuels and electromobility in aviation and shipping. These projects will help reduce transport emissions and improve air quality at 12 airports and 8 ports across 13 Member States.”

“These five projects are leading the way in developing sustainable solutions for the entire ecosystems of ports and airports. The scale of EU funding allocated to the projects demonstrates our commitment to the low-carbon and digital transport transition. We are proud today to see the achievements so far, and the successful collaboration between the project partners, researchers, industry, and SMEs. This will prove inspirational for other ports and airports across Europe and reap benefits for businesses and society at large,” said Paloma Aba Garrote, Director, European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).

The MAGPIE consortium commented: “It is important for there to be an exchange of knowledge and lessons learned between the European Green Deal projects, as this not only helps MAGPIE to disseminate its solutions but also allows us to adapt them based on external input. It also encourages us to consider the scalability and reproducibility of our demonstrators in different contexts. This exchange, the Seas to Skies Conference, also allowed us to see that our visions for the projects and especially for European ports align well. Lastly, it allows us to realize that we are approaching the energy transition in ports and in its surrounding transports in a very holistic manner, considering non-technological solutions and monitoring various aspects including social acceptance as well as focusing on the technological solutions. The Port of Rotterdam as MAGPIE project coordinator is looking forward, together with the project partners, to the next two years in which demonstrations will be completed.”

“After 3 years of extensive work, OLGA project has already progressed many tasks, among the around 30 tasks carried out in the project, aiming to improve the environmental performance at airports in a holistic manner. These innovations are intended for local use and scalable deployment across European airports and beyond. With a focus on replicating these results across Europe, such conferences fostering collaboration among the five H2020 Green Airports and Green Ports projects are proving vital to exchanging best practices and addressing challenges early, ensuring a unified approach to greener aviation. The discussions held over these two days confirm our motivation to successfully complete the tasks ongoing in the remaining two years”, expressed the OLGA consortium after the event.

Inge De Wolf, Project Coordinator for PIONEERS stated: "The support from the European Commission for the H2020-funded PIONEERS project is pivotal in advancing our shared commitment to achieving net zero emissions as stated by the European Green Deal. Innovation is at the heart of our sustainable transition, and through collaborative efforts and dedicated funding, we can pioneer and ensure a sustainable future for our ports, our industry, and future generations. I am proud to announce that the PIONEERS consortium successfully implemented 13 demo pilots during the last year in the ports of Antwerp-Bruges, Barcelona, Constanta and Venlo, marking significant strides in our journey towards reducing global greenhouse gas emissions in port ecosystems."

"From Stargate, we were very happy to co-organise this Seas to Skies conference and to host our fellow Green Deal projects for the aviation and maritime sectors at Brussels Airport’s Skyhall,” explained Charlotte Verreydt, Project Manager of Stargate at Brussels Airport. “After realising various projects and demonstrations in the past 3 years, such as electrification of ground handling equipment, testing a taxibot and automated shuttle and hydrogen solutions, this conference is a perfect place to exchange on our results, learnings, innovations and challenges ahead. By fostering collaboration, dissemination and exchanges with CINEA, and the other projects, I am convinced we will make a greater impact and accelerate the industry’s transition to become more sustainable. I was personally pleased to see that we are all aligned on the same objectives and with an equivalent drive to have a concrete impact and ensure our legacy. This is key to our success.”

Fokko Kroesen, Project Coordinator for TULIPS added: “After two years, the TULIPS project has successfully contributed to shaping the energy transition necessary to balance energy supply and demand at our lighthouse airport. Additionally, we have extended these efforts to regional airports, addressing unique challenges from varied energy infrastructures. Our demonstrations of hydrogen equipment and liquid hydrogen storage solutions have been pivotal in showcasing technologies needed to achieve emission reduction goals. These solutions are essential components of the broader portfolio of measures required to meet these targets. The Seas to Skies Conference, involving five collaborative projects, highlighted significant dissemination and partnership development progress. The crosslinks between initiatives underscore the potential for enhanced synergy, laying a promising foundation to scale solutions during the remaining project period.”