Bologna presents its long-term green vision in a plan

The Italian city wants to achieve decarbonization well ahead of the EU 2050 deadline

The Municipality of Bologna presented its Action Plan for Sustainable Energy and Climate (SECAP) on 23 April, and it promises to convert the locality into a green, solar, electric, resilient, low-energy consumption and low-emissions city by the year 2040, a whole decade before the milestone set by the European Green Deal. The drafting of such a document comes as a direct result of the commitments taken upon joining the Covenant of Mayors movement.

This is an instrument that will guide all future urban and mobility planning

The urban regeneration envisaged in the General Urban Plan proposes the creation of entire “zero energy” or even positive energy neighbourhoods, with local production from renewable sources. It foresees a strong push for the transition to electricity in all energy consumption, from households to public transport, with large cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The construction of the electric tramway that will cross the city alone will be able to reduce emissions by over 50,000 tons of C02, annually.

In the Bologna of the future, carbon-based fuels will be gradually eliminated by means of vehicles powered by renewable energy. The production of such energy will come from the use of biogas derived from organic waste (which already powers many buses today), green hydrogen, and the fuels produced by storage systems that convert the surplus of renewable energies into gas (power-to-gas chain).

The Plan also designs Bologna as a resilient city, providing for a complex dynamic of adaptation with an increase in the urban phytomass, through the increase of public greenery, the greening of buildings (e.g. roofs), and the creation of multifunctional and mitigation green belts.  Other activities in that respect will be the planting of new trees, new solutions for sustainable management of water resources and the improvement of the hydrological response.

The greening is meant as a response to the negative pressure of climate change (heat islands, extreme weather events) but also to improve the healthiness and territorial safety of the city of Bologna.

The objective of the Plan is to define the actions necessary to achieve decarbonisation by 2040 but it also sets a medium-term goal: a 40% cut in emissions by 2030.