Kåre Press-Kristensen: “Let’s think about the great story … The cruise ships and the ferries in the Piraeus port will get their energy from the sun”

We met Mr Kåre Press-Kristensen when he participated, as Senior Advisor for the non-profit environmental organization Green Transition Denmark, in the 2023 air pollution measurements in Piraeus.
In November 2023, during the symposium “Air pollution in Piraeus and Mediterranean port cities” held in Piraeus in the framework of LIFE4MEDECA (a European EU LIFE project for the designation of the Mediterranean Sea as an Emission Control Area in order to reduce the harmful effects of shipping on public health and climate) Press-Kristensen shared the results of the air pollution measurements carried out on the initiative of the Piraeus Environmental Observatory, of which Professor Emeritus of the University of Piraeus Vassilis Tselentis is a member. From January 2024 the EPO also initiated a BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) monitoring program (in the neighboring municipalities like Drapetsona) from which is expecting some important data about air pollution.
The conclusions paint a very nightmarish picture of the quality of life for the residents of Piraeus. While the limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) set on an annual average by the World Health Organization is 10 µg/m³ and that set by the European Union is 40 µg/m³, the measurement around the port of Piraeus in July 2023 reached 78.3-91.7 µg/m³.
For the needs of the interview, we met Mr Press-Kristensen—now Senior Advisor, Air Quality & Climate, for the non-profit organization Green Global Future—both in Athens and Copenhagen to discuss about the initial measurements as long as the recent ones and furthermore about the steps to change the deadly air pollution situation in the port of Piraeus.

– Recently you moved to a new non-profit organization, the Green Global Future. What are the goals of Green Global Future and what are your responsibilities in your new position?

The Green Global Future is much more focused on the international level. The previous NGO [Green Transition Denmark] was mainly focused on Denmark and maybe a little on European Union. But the Green Global Future is a global organization. It has a headquarter in Denmark, but it’s not a Danish but an international organization. And in the board, six out of eight board members are non-Danish. They are from all over, from Czech Republic, Italy, Iceland, China, Brussels. We are focused on the global level and that is very important in relation to the Mediterranean. For me now, it’s much easier to go outside, not only outside of Denmark, but outside Europe and work a lot on the North African countries to ratify the international conventions. This new organization is much more globally focused of course on European level as well. That will help the Mediterranean because there you have Africa and Europe meeting. So we need to work outside Europe to have a success.

– Even we have already read your conclusions about Piraeus, we’re going to ask you if the results of the measurements you made in Piraeus show that the health of Piraeus inhabitants is seriously threatened by the polluted atmosphere.

Yes, definitely. With the air pollution levels, we encounter in Piraeus there will be a very high share of the population that will unfortunately either die or be sick due to air pollution. If we look upon the European Environmental Agency and we look upon all Greece, we already know that about 13% of all deaths in Greece is related to air pollution.
That is the conclusion of the European Environmental Agency in 2020. Of course, you have not ships in all Greece; just in the port cities where is measured extremely high pollution. And that is exactly what we find out in Piraeus. Between 15 and 20 percent of people dying in Piraeus can be related to air pollution one way or another. Not all of this is cause by shipping. There are other sources, such as traffic, that contribute to air pollution.
But yes, people in Piraeus—sorry to say it—are dying from air pollution and they do get sick from air pollution. 
From the ancient times Greece—we learned about that in history—is a great shipping nation. But back then ships had sails. Now they “produce” pollution. The fact is that Greece has many islands. As a result, there are many ferries sailing in the Greek seas and a lot of cruising liners that approach the Greek ports. Everybody loves to visit Greece. This should be a blessing, not a curse.

© Alexandr Krushlinsky/BirdLife Malta

– So what should Greece do in order to control the air pollution caused by shipping?

Actually, what your country needs to do is to connect Piraeus port to shore power. The inhabitants of Piraeus are really suffering now. We became aware of it when we measured the air pollution inside their houses. I was there last year, as you know, measuring. It was during the summer, the temperatures were extremely high so people opened their windows to get some fresh air. But when the cruise liners are right next to your house the smoke from the chimneys—which are at the same height as the flats—gets in and all your body parts are filtered with toxic smoke. Families live there, with their young children and that is catastrophic for their health.

– Do you believe that ship owners and the Piraeus Port Authority are responsible for the air pollution in Piraeus?

The Greek state should support the ship owners. Shore power can almost eliminate the pollution. Of course it is an expensive investment because there is a need for great amounts of electricity. However, Greece, is blessed to be one of the sunniest countries in Europe. The cruise ships stay in the port in daytime and they sail during the night. So from my point of view, what you should do is to attract lots of investments in huge solar panel parties. And feed all this electricity integrated in the grid and the port. Then you can produce electricity for the cruise liners. And of course the ferries should also be connected.

– Have you practiced something similar in your country, Denmark? 

Of course. In Denmark, the port earns money on shore power because in our port cities—for example in the city of Aarhus—we build shore power. So, if you say, I don’t want to collect electricity, you’ll pay €10,000 extra port fee per ship, per day. 
It’s a good investment. If you build a new street, you won’t get any kind of profit. But if you build shore power, you sell electricity earn money. The challenge is to find a system where you can have this investment. 

– How could this be done?

In Northern Europe, we have private companies investing in shore power. Maybe in Piraeus the PPA should be the first to invest. If the PPA isn’t able to do it, then you will need private investors. And then you need a side desk to make two solar packs to supply the electricity.
Anyway, from 2030 shore power in Piraeus becomes mandatory due to EU law. So is much better to do the investment now. If the PPA waits until last minute, the shore power system will be much more expensive … And think about the great story … The cruise ships and the ferries in the Piraeus port will get their energy from the sun without any pollution.

-Mr Press-Kristensen what are your future plans? 

In January 2024 we started our measurements in Piraeus and we aim to continue until the end of the year. We need to have the full annual average of air pollution. If the limit values are violated, this could be the first step towards a lawsuit against Greece for not fulfilling the air quality.

– A lawsuit against the Greek state?

Yes. We will report these measurements to the European Union. When the authorities of the European Union will be informed about these results, that actually are violating the living values of Greek citizens, then they will proceed with the necessary actions. And then I really hope that the Greek politicians will realize that the inhabitants of Piraeus are in danger. After all, all this situation has a huge cost.

– What kind of cost?

Let’s be realistic. The health costs due to air pollution are much higher than 5% of GNP. In Greece, it’s about 13% of all death that can be related to air pollution. The European Environment Agency has documented all this. So we’ll point out the problems, carry out the measurements, offer the results to the European Commission and of course we will inform the Greek politicians about how crucial the situation is and finally take action towards the reduction and, why not, the extinction of air pollution.