Environmental sustainability of ports: top issues, approaches and mitigation strategies

The growth of traffic in ports has brought about greater attention by scientists and citizens on environmental impact of maritime transport and of port areas. Indeed, the environmental problems of such areas influence the communities in which the ports reside. The implementation of mitigation actions can significantly contribute to the achievement of sustainable development objectives. However, these problems are often tackled individually, leaving out a necessary holistic approach that would allow for the adoption of comprehensive intervention measures capable of solving all the environmental issued linked to port activities.In this study the authors propose an analysis of the main environmental problems of ports on the basis of European and international regulations . The aim is to provide a multidisciplinary framework including main methods for measuring impacts and mitigation actions to improve ports environmental sustainability. The framework will also include best practices examples of real case studies which solved multiple environmental issues with efficient solutions.