Common good air

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Port areas are important to the economy and have to withstand strong environmental pressures, making it necessary to protect the environment and people’s health.  The shared challenge is to promote a reduction in polluting emissions deriving from port activities and, in particular, from ships. The general goal of this project is to contribute to preserving or improving air quality in the areas overlooking ports within the cooperation area, at the same time as promoting the sustainable growth of port activities, in compliance with current legislation and European environmental policies.  The project will create a cross-border centre to monitor air quality in ports, through an innovative approach based on a comparison between the various tools used, on the analysis and implementation of predictive models, on the harmonisation of survey methodologies and on the sharing of data. The possible ways to mitigate emissions will also be defined by involving the relative stakeholders. Port authorities, shipping companies, harbour master’s offices and policymakers will benefit from an innovative tool to support the decision-making process, designed specifically to help port areas implement preventive actions to protect the environment, in line with current regulations and with a view to achieving sustainable growth. The improvement in environmental conditions will have positive effects on the health and quality of life of local residents and on the development of economic activities linked to natural marine resources and tourism. Due to the fact that shipping is intrinsically transnational, and considering that emissions deriving from port activities affect the territory on very large spatial scales, this project needs to be cross-border in order to identify where to intervene as a priority, ensuring maximum impact on all of the eligible territory.

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