ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Affairs and Policy
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1664611
This article is part of the Research TopicSmartization and Resilience of Ports and ShippingView all 3 articles
Green Innovation in Ports: Drivers, Domains, and Challenges
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
- 2Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- 3Nanji Islands National Marine Nature Reserve, Wenzhou, China
- 4Zhoushan Xiao'ao Maritime Service Base Co., Ltd., Zhoushan, China
- 5Shandong Marine Resource and Environment Research Institute, Yantai, China
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The purpose of this study is to review and identify drivers, domains and challenges for green innovation in ports. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach was used to select relevant articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The review explained 3 drivers, 4 domains and 4 challenges. The driving factors are (1) the endogenous dynamics provided by the economic and technological spheres, (2) external pressures in the fields of environment and policy and (3) the direction for transformation provided by the social field. The domains of green innovation in ports are (1) basic measures, such as equipment measures and management measures; (2) operational measures, such as port and ship interfaces, cargo handling, multimodal transport and other operational measures; (3) energy measures, such as alternative energy sources and energy efficiency; and (4) intelligent measures, including technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and the Internet of Things. The associated challenges are (1) environmental challenges, (2) energy challenges, (3) regulatory challenges and (4) operational challenges. This study provides insights and recommendations for stakeholders in port green innovation.
Keywords: Port, green innovation, meta-analyses, Energy measures, Environmental challenge
Received: 12 Jul 2025; Accepted: 12 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Chao, Xie, Wang, Wang and Xue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cheng Yi Xue, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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