It's official! The Port of Hueneme’s annual Green Marine certification results are out, and the Port was certified in June 2023 with its highest scores ever during the annual Green Marine re-certification process. These high scores are an acknowledgement of the Port of Hueneme’s commitment to leadership in environmental stewardship. Green Marine is the leading voluntary environmental certification program for North America’s maritime industry. Green Marine’s Environmental Port Program scores an applicant against a rigorous set of more than 160 performance indicators in nine categories, including environmental leadership, community impacts, greenhouse gases and air pollutants as well as waste management. The scores an applicant receives are based upon escalating requirements, all of which are predicated on going above and beyond mere compliance with environmental regulations. In addition, the program categories evolve annually and require ongoing year over year improvement to maintain, let alone improve on, an applicant’s score. The Port of Hueneme has been part of this program since 2017 and in addition to the annual re-certification process, there is a third-party onsite program audit every other year of an applicant’s participation. The Port of Hueneme was the first port in California to achieve a Green Marine certification in 2017.
“It is an honor that the Port of Hueneme has kept the lead as one of the highest scoring Ports in California for environmental action and has become re-certified by Green Marine for continuing to show annual improvements to our environment and communities,” said Jess Herrera, President of the Oxnard Harbor Commission. “We see the work that goes into reaching our zero-emission goals every day and we look forward to continuing to pave the path of being good environmental stewards.”
“Companies and public agencies need to recognize the importance of investing in community organizing training for their employees as well as raise environmental consciousness about their operations from within,” said Miguel Rodriguez, the Port of Hueneme’s Community Outreach Manager, during his presentation at the Greentech conference in Seattle. “This helps build legitimate community-focused relationships within [the maritime industry]; and serves as a bridge to a future where employees and community members work together to address social and climate challenges in adjacent neighborhoods. This approach helped us achieve our highest score ever and speaks to the significant investment from the Port of Hueneme to meaningfully engage the local community in our local air quality monitoring efforts.”
The Port of Hueneme has scored highly in many categories indicating excellence and leadership in their environment.
“It was also very eye opening to see how advanced our work is in comparison to many other Ports in the United States and Canada,” Rodriguez added.
“The highly structured, detailed performance requirements of the Green Marine certification process are a perfect fit for helping the Port to assess its year over year progress in the implementation of our sustainability programs,” said Giles Pettifor, Environmental Manager at the Port of Hueneme. “Achieving our highest scores ever this last year is a reflection the Port’s broader commitment to environment, community, and progress, but more specifically to just how seriously the Port is taking the global climate crisis and the urgency with which we are seeking to act now.”
The Port is pushing to reach its goal of zero emission operations, which was unanimously voted upon in 2021 by the Port’s Board of Harbor Commissioners.
