The approval of a renewable energy and climate change legislative package by the European Union in December 2008 is part of a wider push to formulate a global policy to combat climate change. Indeed, the Copenhagen Conference to be held in December this year will play a key role in deciding what should follow the Kyoto Protocol once it expires in 2012.
During the course of a seminar dedicated to examining these issues, the participants acknowledged that there is a will – or a need – to come up with a set of rules that reconcile at a global level, as has occurred at the European level, the demands of the environment, competitiveness and energy supply security, with the added factor of the current economic crisis.
It was observed that the state of the Italian energy industry and any possible role it may have in helping to overcome the crisis presupposes investment in production facilities and infrastructure. Both can contribute to the implementation of the energy-climate package, paving the way for positive impacts on Italy’s manufacturing system, but they depend on approval processes, even where adequate financial resources are available. One of the aims of Legislative Decree 1195, recently approved by the Italian Senate, is to simplify a system that is based on many rules and involving multiple levels of government.
Research and incentives in these sectors were discussed as a possible means of increasing the “critical size” of businesses and fostering their competitiveness vis-à-vis key players from other countries. Here too, it was felt that clear rules are needed to avoid heightening investment risk and that Italian businesses also need to be more proactive in taking advantage of the international opportunities available (such as the Mediterranean Solar Plan and EIB financing).
In relation to the issue of nuclear energy, the participants debated the problems and opportunities that the adoption of this technology in Italy raises. Investment in human capital and technical expertise is needed and the role of the State needs to be clarified. Whilst important technological spin-offs beneficial to Italy may yet again be possible, it is also necessary to resolve the issues of public awareness and consensus.
Finally, in examining the issue of infrastructure, the participants discussed the available funding mechanisms, both in Italy and the European Union, and the related approval procedures and their complexity, linked also to multilevel governance, and, hence, to the relationship with the territory. It was concluded that these mechanisms have resulted in approval turnaround times that are too long and a climate of uncertainty that does little to encourage investment.