Maritime transport is the most sustainable way of transporting goods from the environmental and energy point of view. However, port operations also have an impact on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

Currently, the ports of the cross-border area do not have a common model of environmental planning and energy efficiency: the Italian Port System Authorities have ministerial guidelines published in December 2018, which however do not apply to Porto Nogaro. At the same time, the Croatian ports have their own impact mitigation strategies.

SUSPORT intends to enhance the environmental sustainability and energy efficiency of the ports in Italy and Croatia through increased institutional cooperation to create the basis for coordinated and permanent governance at cross-border level, jointly developing action plans and a long-term strategy.

Through SUSPORT, ports of the Programme Area will be able to share best practices and develop common methodologies for environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, to be tested in concrete pilot actions significantly improving the environmental performance of maritime transport in the whole Programme Area.