Green Economy: struggling to take off in Italy

The Green Economy in Italy is going through a period of crisis, with challenges, delays and few positive signs. Decarbonisation is not in line with the new European objectives, and greenhouse gas emissions are increasing from 2019 to 2022, while the production of renewable energy has decreased, and the trend does not reflect the European objectives. Although waste recycling is good, the rate of use of waste matter is decreasing. This situation is accompanied by widespread "eco-skepticism" in Italy, fueled by a vision of the costs of the ecological transition and the reductive perception of its benefits. This picture emerged from the Report on the state of the Green Economy presented during the General States of the Green Economy 2023.

Emissions: Ispra's preliminary estimates indicate that greenhouse gas emissions in Italy in 2022 remained almost unchanged compared to 2021 (+0.1%). This trend, from a decarbonization perspective, is considered insufficient. Emissions are stable due to growth in the transport and energy production sectors, while there has been a significant contraction in heating and industry. Although Italy has reduced emissions by 20% from 1990 to 2022, this result is lower than the European average. But let's ask ourselves: will the European requests be realistic?

Renewables: In 2022, the share of renewable energy in Italy remained stable at 19%, far from the European target of 42.5% by 2030. Renewables covered only 35% of national electricity production, mainly due to the collapse of hydroelectric generation due to drought. Photovoltaic is the only growing source (+12%), while wind, geothermal and bioenergy recorded a slight contraction. Overall, generation from renewables in 2022 decreased by 13% compared to 2021. However, in the first half of 2023, generation from renewables grew by 4%, covering 35% of national electricity needs. Perhaps it would be necessary to focus on other sources, such as biogas. And then, why not a safe and recent nuclear power plant, perhaps on SMR.

Energy saving: In 2022, final energy consumption in Italy decreased by 3.5% compared to the previous year. Buildings saw an 8% reduction in consumption, while industry reduced consumption by 7%. The surge in prices and the need to reduce gas imports from Russia have led to a significant increase in domestic coal consumption (+30%). The problem is that this occurred with a decline in industrial production itself. We save, but we also don't produce.

Circular economy: In terms of the circular economy, Italy generated 3.3 euros of GDP for every kilogram of resources consumed, exceeding the European average of 2.1. The recycling rate of municipal waste in 2021 was 48.1%, with a rate of use of material coming from recycling of 18.4%. Although there is a decline in the recycling rate compared to 2020, Italy is positioned well compared to other European countries.

Mobility: In 2022, car registrations in Italy decreased by 10%. LPG and hybrid cars recorded increases, while methane, diesel and electric cars suffered declines. Average emissions from new registrations decreased to 118.8 gCO2/km in 2022. However, the penetration of electric cars in the Italian market is low, partly due to limited incentives, but partly because Italian consumers are poorer and they can't afford the expensive electric Teslas or VWs, partly because they don't trust them.

In conclusion, the Italian Green Economy presents significant challenges, but also opportunities for improvement in key sectors such as renewables, energy efficiency and the circular economy. It would take a new and innovative perspective, as well as strong incentives, to relaunch it, but the MEF and the Commission hate debt, and the citizens are too poor.

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The article Green Economy: struggling to take off in Italy comes from Scenari Economici .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/green-economy-in-italia-fatica-a-decollare/ on Mon, 13 Nov 2023 12:00:47 +0000.