ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER AT AARHUS HARBOUR

Mads Søgaard is an environmental engineer at Aarhus Harbour. He constantly has a lot on his plate to make sure the harbour's sustainability strategy is on track. It requires overview and good management skills to get many partners to work together to create a harbour that is leading within sustainability.

It took only a month for Mads Søgaard after he graduated the master study in environmental management and Sustainability Science from Aalborg University to land a job as an environmental engineer at Aarhus Harbour. Shortly before that, the harbour had launched its ambitious vision to become the most sustainable harbour in the area of the Baltic Sea, and that challenge drew in the newly graduated engineer.

-It was one of the very first applications I sent out after I graduated. I had actually planned to do a Ph.D. in Aalborg, but already at the interview I could notice that the work here would be very interesting, he says.

Together with a colleague, they make up the team at Aarhus Harbour that has the assignment of calculating and reporting the CO2 footprint of the harbour. An overview and insight are required to map out the CO2 footprint of the entire value chain of the harbour. Even though the harbour owns cranes, land and berths, the companies at the harbour are responsible for the highest emissions.

- When we look at the port's climate footprint, the vast majority of it comes from our partners in the transport industry. That is why a big part of my focus is on helping them become more sustainable and creating the framework for us to go in the right direction together, Mads Søgaard says.

We take companies by the hand and try to influence their sustainability journey rather than impose demands. This could be storing surplus heat, sustainable construction, a biogas station or installing fast chargers for electric cars. It's very much about making sure there are sustainable fuels for transport companies, he explains.

THE BROAD PROFESSION

The Port of Aarhus is one of the first ports in the world to be well- known by Science Based Targets. It is an initiative launched by the United Nations and the World Wildlife Fund, among others, to support organisations in achieving their climate targets based on scientific facts. The recognition comes in light of the extensive CO2 report Mads Søgaard is working with.

- As we were about to implement a strategy with a heavy focus on sustainability in 2019, it was important for us that the engineer we hired had a broad and updated professional background. The field is rapidly evolving and we need to be able to cover a wide range and continuously acquire more knowledge, with little resources. That is a bit of a challenge, but we found it in Mads, says Anne Zachariassen, Director of Operations.

Mads Søgaard himself believes that the training has made it easy for him to s into the role of project manager at such a dynamic
workplace as Aarhus Port.

-The entire way you work with problem based and project-based learning at Aalborg University is well
in line with the way you work here - with big projects and different profes- sions. The entire education has in that way created a very good foundation for my work life, he says.