Regions/Provinces/States
Emilia Romagna—Emilia Romagna has a comprehensive plan to meet the European targets of 2020, 2030 and 2050 in the transportation, energy, and buildings sectors. Plans in the transportation sector are the most aggressive, with a heavy focus on electric vehicles. Overall goals are:
• 40% increase in electric car registration and 25% increase in hybrid cars registration
• 60% increase in electric buses for local routes
• Convert 20 to 40% of commercial vehicles to electric vehicles
• Increase cycling transportation by 20%
• Double the public transportation on rail by 50%
• Increase transportation of goods on rail by 10%
Funding for the above initiatives will come mainly from funds set aside at the regional level. Additional contributions will come from the European Union and the Italian government.
Contact
Stefano Bonaccini, President of Emilia-Romagna region
Telephone: +39-051 -5275800 ext 5801
Email: segreteriapreseident@regione.emilia-romagna.it
Lombardy—Lombardy’s Regional Environmental Energy Program (PEAR) operates within the Regional Development Plan approved in 2013. PEAR will contribute to the transformation of the region’s energy system, mainly with the implementation of the following policies: New buildings and buildings undergoing extensive renovations must comply with “nearly zero-energy building” (NZEB) standards. Such efforts will be recorded and monitored through the Regional Registry of Building Energy. Retrofits of existing public and private buildings to improve energy efficiency are also underway. Other actions include the promotion of energy storage systems for photovoltaic systems, an increase in energy generation from biomass, and support of municipalities to replace public lighting systems. Overall, the Region of Lombardy aims to reduce GHG by at least 80% by 2050 over 2005 levels. The region represents the lion share of Italian GDP, which amounts to 20%.
Contact
Claudia Terzi, Governor for the Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development.
Telephone: +39-02-6765-4705
Email: segreteria_assterzi@regione.lombardia.it
Cities
Capannori—A town of 46,000 inhabitants located in the North of Italy, Capannori has one of the highest municipal recycling rates in Europe. This zero waste town is an example of strong policy decisions and community participation achieving groundbreaking results. This model can be easily replicated elsewhere in Italy since 98% of Italian municipalities have fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, accounting for 66% of the total population.
A zero waste strategy was signed in 2007 and since then waste per capita dropped 40%, from 1,92kg to 1,18kg/person/year. In 2014, only 18% of waste produced was landfilled.
Strategies that led to the drastic reduction include:
• The creation of a door-to-door collection system designed to engage and educate residents on source separation practices.
• Taking a collaborative approach with community meetings to disseminate information, provide feedback, and distribute free waste separation kits.
• Household composting
• Creation of a Reuse Center where items such as clothes, footware, toys, electric appliances, and furniture can be repaired and sold to those in need. In 2012, 93 tonnes of objects were dropped at the center.
• A grocery store opened in 2009 that sells over 250 locally sourced food and drink products in bulk. The municipality provides small businesses with tax incentives to stock products that could be refilled with customers’ own containers.
Contact
Gian Luca Bucci, Office of the Environment, Energy and Toponymy
Telephone: +39-0583-428207
Email: g.bucci@comune.capannori.lu.it
Associations
Italian cities, regions and provinces are part of the following associations:
Factor 20 is aimed at formulating a set of tools to support the planning of regional and national policies relating to the reduction of greenhouse gasses, the reduction of energy consumption and the use of renewable energy sources. Visit: www.factor20.it
Under 2 MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) is a global pact among cities, states, and countries to limit the increase in the global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius—the warming threshold at which scientists say there will likely be catastrophic climate disruptions. Collectively, 57 jurisdictions from 19 countries and five continents have now signed or endorsed the Under 2 MOU, collectively representing more than $17.5 trillion in GDP and 572 million people. Visit http://under2mou.org/
Conurbant starts from the consideration that EU small towns face strong difficulties in energy management and planning because of their lack of skills and resources, while medium and large cities have a higher responsibility related to their higher density of human activities, and complicated issues of sustainable land use, planning, and mobility. The Conurbant project aims at helping medium-large cities, and the smaller towns in their urban areas, through capacity building using peer-to-peer support and training between less and more experienced municipalities. Visit www.conurbant.eu
C40 is a network of the world’s megacities committed to addressing climate change. C40 supports cities to collaborate effectively, share knowledge, and drive meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on climate change. Visit www.c40.org
Learn More
To learn more about the Emilia-Romagna commitments under the under2mou, please read http://under2mou.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Emilia-Romagna-Appendix.pdf
To learn more about Lomabardy’s PEAR plan, please refer to http://under2mou.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Lombardy-appendix-English.pdf
To read further about Capannori’s waste management achievements please go to http://www.comune.capannori.lu.it/node/3020 and also see “The story of Capannori” by Aimee Van Vliet, Case study #1, Zero Waste Europe, 2013.