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Less Noise Programme: €5,002,190 from the Environmental Fund for Lisbon, Loures, Vila Franca de Xira and Almada

Two children sitting on a windowsill watching an airplane parked at the airport in the evening light.

Lusa approached the councils of the four municipalities that have signed protocols with the Environmental Fund, which is set to finance measures to reduce the noise impact from the country’s largest airport.

Funding totals and programme timetable

Taken together, the funding totals €5,002,190: €2,798,730 for Lisbon; €1,324,730 for Loures; €560,000 for Vila Franca de Xira; and €318,730 for Almada.

A source at the Ministry of Environment and Energy told Lusa that the same amounts will be repeated in 2027, as the newly signed protocols run for two years.

The Less Noise Programme, approved almost a year ago on 16 March 2025, was expected to start in September. However, the protocols required to put it into practice were only formalised last Thursday.

Lisbon: €2,798,730 in 2026 plus reprogrammed funding

In a reply to Lusa, Lisbon City Council said it will receive €2,798,730 in 2026, along with the “reprogramming” of an identical amount that had been set aside for 2025 but, “due to various circumstances, was not possible to execute” and will now be transferred to 2027.

That means Lisbon will have a combined total of more than five million euros (5,597,460) across the two years of support covered by the Less Noise Programme. As set out in Council of Ministers Resolution No. 58/2025, the programme will fund interventions in “facades, windows, window frames and shutter boxes of residential buildings that do not meet acoustic requirements” and “are located in areas exposed to noise levels” above the legal thresholds.

The city council adds that work in the capital will apply to the parishes of Alvalade, Avenidas Novas, Alcântara, Campo de Ourique, Campolide, Estrela, Lumiar, Santa Clara and São Domingos de Benfica.

Loures, Vila Franca de Xira and Almada: eligible areas and works

Information provided to Lusa by Loures Municipal Council indicates that assistance to reduce airport noise in the municipality could extend to 48,761 permanent dwellings.

Loures will receive €1,324,730, which it intends to spend by the end of the year to “replace windows, shutter boxes and ventilation grilles in homes located in the most exposed areas”, specifically in the parishes of Camarate, Unhos and Apelação; Moscavide and Portela; Sacavém and Prior Velho; and Santa Iria de Azóia, São João da Talha and Bobadela.

A day after the Government signed the protocols with the relevant local authorities, Vila Franca de Xira City Council released a statement saying the municipality will receive €560,000 to "finance improvements aimed at enhancing acoustic comfort on the façades, windows, window frames and shutter boxes in residential buildings in affected areas of the Union of Parishes of Alverca do Ribatejo and Sobralinho, the Union of Parishes of Póvoa de Santa Iria and Forte da Casa, the Parish of Vialonga and the Parish of Vila Franca de Xira".

Almada is also included in the Less Noise Programme. Under the signed protocol sent to Lusa by the municipality, €318,730 is due to be invested by the end of 2026 in “improvement interventions on facades, window frames, windows and shutter boxes in residential buildings” within a “corridor encompassing parts of the Unions of Parishes of Almada, Cova da Piedade, Cacilhas and Pragal; Caparica and Trafaria; and Charneca and Sobreda, as well as the Parish Council of Costa de Caparica.”

According to the Less Noise Program, funding should prioritise private homes used as permanent residences and situated in areas with higher noise levels, while commercial premises are excluded from support.

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