Seaports are important nodes in global commerce networks, but they also produce considerable amounts of pollutants. Cold ironing is one of the technological solutions that allows seaports to be both economically and environmentally efficient. However, various difficulties remain to be solved before this technology may be implemented. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that led to the adoption of cold ironing in Vietnam ports. Our finding shows that there are four primary factors that influence how ports are used for cold ironing, including regulation drivers, incentive drivers, macroeconomic drivers, and foreign capital drivers. Among the factors mentioned above, regulations, as one of the most important, influence the implementation of cold ironing for emission reduction at ports in Vietnam. The discussion section of this paper goes into considerable detail about its findings and implications.