CarbonFreePorts: Freeports as opportunities not threats for place based decarbonisation of transport

Freeports are a Government flagship policy for ‘levelling-up’ post-Brexit and ‘building back better’ post-Covid. But Government has also pledged to decarbonise transport, including neglected issues of shipping/aviation. This participatory workshop will launch a DecarboN8-funded pilot focused on the Freeports of Teesside and Liverpool to explore potential for these policy agendas to work together, and not against each other, making Freeports a singular opportunity for the North. We explore CarbonFreePorts aiming to align the socio-economic benefits of Freeport development with: 1) expedited & place-relevant decarbonisation of regional transport networks; 2) localised environmental quality, socio-economic development & social justice; and 3) localised capacity for world-leading innovation in zero-carbon shipping. Conference attendees are invited to join this initial brainstorming, fact-finding workshop on this important agenda. Dividing into self-selected sub-groups on the 3 themes, we will pool existing knowledge, contacts and ideas, regarding: historical lessons & experience; localized political, cultural & economic geography (e.g. risks of economic displacement); expectations, challenges & pressures on Freeport development, including integration with local low-carbon transport planning; and key place-based social & environmental issues . including opportunities for skills training and development. Participants need not be from northern England, and are welcome across professions and societal roles. The workshop will involve an initial, brief scene-setting presentation, followed by guided group activities over a total of 1.5 hours. With participant consent, discussions will be recorded and transcribed to provide qualitative data input to the project as a whole.