PASSAGE project aims at supporting low-carbon initiatives within five European maritime border regions. The project focuses on the development of integrated cross-border initiatives in straits. By their geography, straits of Europe are at the heart of maritime border regions. As important passage points, they concentrate flows and activities, resulting in an important carbon pressure. 

Not only straits’ hinterlands do not always benefit from the international maritime flows in terms of local economic development, but their populations directly suffer from carbon emissions of these flows and their related inland activities and traffic, on which local authorities have very limited control. The maritime border is a direct obstacle to the development of efficient and integrated low carbon strategies to prevent further pollution in straits.

The project partners will work with the managing and governing authorities of the cross border cooperation maritime programs to ensure an actual policy change by 2019. Local stakeholders participating in cross border initiatives will be involved in the activities of the project, to bring their territorial expertise and introduce a lasting territorial change through renewed approaches that will benefit to the partner regions’ population.