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29.09.2020

Autumn webinars: Great River Cities and Greening Inland Shipping

Photo: © Jason Hawkes

The Port of London Authority is hosting two webinars this autumn, gathering stakeholders to look at critical issues shaping the future of river cities like London: the pandemic response and accelerated moves towards Net Zero.

Details of the webinars, which will be held in late October and early November, are as follows:

28 October 2020 – Great River Cities’ COVID response

This event will give a unique insight into how the world’s Great River Cities are responding to the global pandemic. How are the emerging issues shaping river use today and what are the implications for the future?

Keynote speaker, Professor Greg Clark CBE, will share fresh insights assembled from other river cities around the world, their responses to the pandemic and the trends underlying them. Panellists will share perspectives on how these trends are playing out for London and other river cities. Greg Clark is a global advisor, scholar and writer.

The research findings will be published concurrently with the webinar.

5 November 2020 - Greening Inland Shipping – one year on

One year on from London’s first Greening Inland Shipping conference, the PLA is giving stakeholders the opportunity to reconvene online to keep track of, and update on, the progress made since. The panel of speakers will cover global developments, the roadmap for improving inland vessels’ emissions performance on the Thames, current and planned developments to support low emission operations on the river.

A publication covering the trends identified and short videos summarising latest developments will be made available concurrently.

Explaining the background to the webinars, PLA chief executive, Robin Mortimer, said:

“The webinars are set to provide us with insight into two of the driving forces shaping our cities: the pandemic response and the accelerating drive towards Net Zero. For us, the events are part of our work to refresh the Thames Vision, the development framework for the UK’s busiest river. We’re really excited to learn more from the river city, technology and other partners at the events.”

Reflecting on Great River Cities’ pandemic response, Professor Greg Clark commented:

“This is a time of seismic change in the technology, social behaviour and patterns of consumption that shape our cities. We already have a feel for how things are developing; the intelligence being gathered right now will provide an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the responses of river cities. It’s going to be fascinating and we’re looking forward to sharing the findings.”

Greening Inland Shipping – one year on is linked to an overarching PLA priority to support operators’ work to improve vessel performance, while use of the Thames as an uncongested green highway continues to develop.

Head of environment at the PLA, Tanya Ferry explains:

“The Greening Inland Shipping conference last year enabled us to share with Thames and other operators a flavour of the main options and developments in reducing emissions from inland shipping. This is really important to us as the Thames is the UK’s busiest inland waterway – with millions of tonnes of freight moved and millions of passengers travelling every year. With technology moving so fast, we are coming back together this November to keep everyone up to date with developments and support the continued drive to improve environmental performance of vessels operating on the Thames.”

Both events are free to attend. You can find more details and register to attend using these links:

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