Real time monitoring of regulated and non-regulated emissions from all types of vessels and other port activities in order to enforce emission limits in waterfront cities

Funded projects are expected to deliver:
• Real-time demonstration of onboard tamper-proof and remote measurement techniques for a broad pollutant suite (including alternative fuel and non-regulated species) supporting enforcement.
• Harmonised, broadly accepted methods to measure real sailing emissions in coastal, inland and open-sea waters for future compliance monitoring.
• An automatic reporting and verification system enabling shipowners’ regulatory compliance and authorities’ monitoring and control.
• Enhanced emission factors for inventories and projections, especially for understudied substances and fuel blends, underpinning a standard for real-world emission calculation.
• Identification of uncontrolled or excessive releases of harmful substances in ports and open sea not covered by current regulations.
• Innovative technologies to monitor and source-apportion port pollution beyond vessels, including other transport modes and industrial operations.
• Recommendations for improved certification and testing protocols to better reflect real-world conditions.
• Real-world emission data to inform and support local, regional, national and international emission reduction, air quality and noise action plans and to measure control-measure effectiveness.
• Identification of high-risk areas for potential emission limit violations.

Proposals must: 1. Address all R&I activities listed above in a real operational environment. 2. Demonstrate monitoring techniques for the specified pollutants during normal and dynamic operations across vessel types and fuel technologies. 3. Integrate static and remote sensing data streams into a unified platform. 4. Deploy and validate systems in six TEN-T ports (3 Core, 3 Comprehensive) spanning at least three sea basins, with at least one inland-waterway port and one port in a Cities Mission city linked to the Climate City Contract. 5. Cover a broad range of emission profiles and complex port layouts under variable weather. 6. Demonstrate calibration procedures and reproducible results. 7. Develop port-area pollution assessment methodologies covering all sources. 8. Quantify impacts on local air quality and propose mitigation strategies for municipalities and port authorities. 9. Create Real-Time Decision Support Systems for operational and enforcement decision-making. 10. Establish harmonised monitoring, reporting and verification methods suitable for compliance and legal enforcement. 11. Formulate recommendations to improve certification and testing for real-world conditions and propose a vessel grading system. 12. Expand evidence for regulated and non-regulated pollutants, including new fuel impacts. 13. Develop measurement protocols for BC, UFP and PN. 14. Develop engine testing cycles mirroring real-world use. 15. Engage relevant authorities and local communities, ensuring dissemination proportional to impact. 16. Build on and complement prior EU projects (e.g., SCIPPER, EMERGE, Green C Ports, Interreg, LIFE CLINSH) and avoid duplication. 17. Consider fisheries sector intersections and link with ongoing Horizon Europe calls and missions (ZEWT partnership, Ocean & Waters Mission, space-based programmes).