The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in the maritime sector has become an essential component in enhancing sustainable development and operational transparency. This article explores the growing importance of ESG frameworks in the maritime industry, focusing on the practical applications and comparative assessment of ESG performance among four major European ports: the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, the Port of Klaipėda, and A. P. Moller-Maersk. The paper investigates ESG maturity through a set of defined indicators, such as emissions, renewable energy use, green investment, social performance and governance transparency, offering a critical evaluation of their implementation across different port management
models. The findings highlight significant variability in ESG integration, with Rotterdam and Maersk leading in environmental and governance indicators, while Antwerp-Bruges and Klaipėda are still developing their ESG reporting practices. The study underscores the importance of standardised ESG frameworks, transparent reporting, and digital innovation for advancing sustainability in the maritime sector.
Climate change adaptation being one of today’s main challenges on global agenda do affect people worldwide, but even though most decisions regarding climate change governance are made at the international or national level, the implementation of these decisions in most cases takes place at the local level. Municipal climate change adaptation research project in Latvia was carried out with special emphases on main stakeholder understanding, preparedness and communication factors using several complementary research methods – case study research in Salacgriva coastal municipality, sociological surveys with both Salacgriva town households / inhabitants (home visits / questionnaires) and also nation-wide municipal planners/ specialists survey (web based) in Latvia, as well as complementary interviews with various national agencies governance level experts. The comprehention and level of understanding of all sectors and necessary elements of complex municipal climate change governance development in Latvia is not sufficiently high neither for municipal planners/specialists nor for municipal (flood endangered) households, according to the needs of both those groups. There is in Latvia diverse and wide list of separately developed and already available instrument groups for municipal climate change governance (MCCG), especially, complementary communication instruments, as well as suffient enough number of insturments are in possession of the any particular municipality, but usage of them is quite limited by their type and range, and not complementary. Necessary is to change municipal project type thinking-working towards comprehensive planning / programming municipal development / support and pro-active communication and collaboration.