Facing the severe challenges of global climate change and Taiwan's policy goal under the "2050 Net-Zero Emissions Pathway," and to implement full life-cycle carbon-reduction management in port engineering, TIPC has actively advanced carbon-reduction measures for port works. Integrating the four major indicators of energy saving and carbon reduction in public works—green materials, green energy, green construction methods, and green environments—TIPC completed the "Reference Guidelines for Carbon-Reduction Operations in Port Engineering" on November 4, 2025. To ensure the professionalism of the guidelines and the credibility of the data, TIPC specially commissioned the British Standards Institution (BSI), a professional verification body recognized by the Ministry of Environment, to conduct a rigorous review. The scope of verification covered the logical soundness of the guidelines' structure, the accuracy of carbon-emission factor data, and the reasonableness of case calculation methods, and a certificate was obtained.

Because port engineering involves large-scale earthworks, concrete structures, and maritime operations, its carbon-emission potential cannot be overlooked. Traditional engineering carbon reduction, however, has often focused on a single stage and lacked holistic planning. The core feature of these guidelines is the introduction of a "full life-cycle" carbon-management mindset, systematically embedding carbon-reduction strategies into five major stages—project proposal, planning and design, material selection, construction execution, and maintenance management. To address the difficulty of quantifying engineering carbon emissions, the guidelines establish scientifically grounded estimation principles. In line with Ministry of Transportation and Communications policy, TIPC selected 2021–2023 as the baseline years, inventoried data from 148 projects in that period, and through statistical analysis established baseline values for "carbon emissions per NT$10,000 of project cost" by project type. Through this mechanism, project sponsors can, at the planning and design stage, rapidly estimate a project's "carbon-emission ceiling" using project cost and price-index parameters. The guidelines also build a detailed database of commonly used carbon-emission factors for port engineering, covering general materials (such as concrete and reinforcing steel), maritime-specific work items (such as core-stone placement and dredging), and construction equipment (such as dredgers and tugboats), aiming to address the lack of dedicated carbon factors for maritime works. Total carbon emissions can thus be estimated at the design stage, enabling timely review and the introduction of more proactive low-carbon methods or materials to put carbon-emission control into practice.

Publication of the "Reference Guidelines for Carbon-Reduction Operations in Port Engineering" is only the starting point. To achieve its goals, TIPC has established a cross-unit "Port Engineering Carbon Reduction Promotion Task Force" responsible for coordinating carbon-reduction strategies, reviewing target values, and periodically evaluating implementation results. Going forward, the guidelines will be updated on a rolling basis in line with national policy, emerging technologies, and changes in domestic and international regulations, continually deepening the sustainability resilience of port construction. Subsequently, TIPC will continue to monitor implementation performance in accordance with the PAS 2080 standard to ensure the consistency and traceability of the overall carbon-management system.

TIPC emphasizes that, as ports are critical hubs for national logistics and energy transfer, advancing engineering carbon reduction is not only a matter of fulfilling corporate social responsibility but also a key to enhancing ports' international competitiveness. Through implementation of these guidelines, TIPC aims to drive full life-cycle transformation of engineering and build sustainable green ports that combine ecological friendliness with operational efficiency.