Emilia-Romagna: a Region of Environmental Transition

Speeding up environmental transition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and switching to clean and renewable energies by 2035, combining productivity, equity and sustainability, generating new quality jobs.
We are taking on board the 17 United Nations Agenda goals with a view to overcoming the fragility factors our ability to create and redistribute wealth and preserve and renew the resources we use are based on.
The major investment plan which will support regional society’s move to full sustainability will be backed by the European Green Deal, in both target and resource terms, as well as by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and Next Generation EU resources. Making the best use of these resources, with wide-ranging policies for a wide area, in conjunction with the other Po Valley regions, is a qualifying objective of the Pact and a priority future planning goal.
Lines of actions relevant to the Mission “Restor our Ocean and Waters”:
• To invest in research and innovation
• To support the circular economy, including by launching research laboratories involving the High Technology Network, ARPAE, the Environmental Energy Cluster-ER, town councils, environmental service managers and the production system as a whole, investing in technologies capable of reducing waste and facilitating industrial symbiosis, increasing product durability and the use of low-emission materials, promoting waste recycling, recovery and reuse via the creation of new dedicated circuits and plants, including with a view to increasing regional self-sufficiency
• To speed up the elimination of single-use plastics, in line with European legislation, and the transition to a more sustainable use of plastics, by setting up a regional steering committee to assess the timing, impact and implementation of each measure.
• To reduce waste production, starting with household waste, and sending it to landfills or waste-to-energy plants, with a view to reducing non-recycled waste to 110 kg per capita or lower by 2030, increasing the quantity and quality of pre-sorted waste collection (door-to-door as a priority) with the goal of 80% by 2025, consolidating spot pricing in all town councils, introducing new and different bonus mechanisms and ensuring regional self-sufficiency in all waste management.
• To increase protection and improved use of water resources, improving ecosystems, encouraging sustainable use by reducing consumption and waste in the residential, industrial and agricultural sectors (Water Footprint), improving quality and availability, with a view to halving network losses, increasing, innovating and improving storage capacity, reusing wastewater and rainwater, taking advantage of the opportunity to submit projects under the National Research Programme.
• To enhance the contribution made by agricultural and processing to renewable energy production goals, including with a view to achieving energy self-sufficiency and replacing petroleum chemicals with biodegradable materials in the context of the bio-economy and the circular economy.
• To protect, upgrade and promote mountain and inland areas, starting with natural resources and parks, protected areas and UNESCO Mabs, as irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity and basins of opportunity for sustainable development of the land and local populations.
• To develop new green supply chains focusing on both the climate/energy chain and industrial material recovery chains.