Filomena Pietrapertosa

Italian National Research Council | CNR · Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis IMAA

Globally, efforts are underway to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change impacts at the local level. However, there is a poor understanding of the relationship between city strategies on climate change mitigation and adaptation and the relevant policies at national and European level. This paper describes a com...

Climate change mitigation and adaptation along with air pollution are key challenges that require a comprehensive planning approach able to promote win-win strategies and avoid transferring environmental pressures from one sector to another. The joint approach is widely advocated at the policy level while the scientific research investigates the ro...

An adaptation gap exists when adaptation efforts fail to meet adaptation needs. Conceptualizing and operationalizing this gap is challenging, but should start with, as we argue, addressing ‘internal adaptation policy consistency’. Through a comprehensive European study of local adaptation planning and its progress, we demonstrate how consistency ch...

While European regions face a range of different climate hazards, little is known about how these differences affect local climate adaptation planning. We present an analytical framework for evaluating local climate adaptation plans (LCAPs) and apply it to 327 cities in 28 countries across different European regions. To do this, we use statistical...

The positive energy district (PED) is a rather recent concept that aims to contribute to the main objectives of the Energy Union strategy. It is based on an integrated multi-sectoral approach in response to Europe’s most complex challenges. But to what extent have its development and implementation been supported by research and innovation programs...

Cities across Mediterranean Europe face common climatic threats. They are highly vulnerable and very likely to suffer losses and damages due to heat waves, droughts, wildfires, landslides, and extreme coastal events. To this date, however, there is no systematic understanding of how cities in Mediterranean Europe are preparing to adapt to these imp...

Urbanization and the concentration of energy-consuming economic activities make cities responsible for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The European Cities Mission launched a call in September 2021 to set out on a path towards "100 climate-neut...

This study investigates the climate emergency declaration (CED) movement in cities and its effects and synergies with local climate planning. Urban areas are experiencing a wide range of climate-induced extreme events, particularly those located in the Mediterranean hotspot. The focus is on Italian cities, which have only recently become key player...

Defining and measuring progress in adaptation are important questions for climate adaptation science, policy, and practice. Here, we assess the progress of urban adaptation planning in 327 European cities between 2005 and 2020 using three ‘ADAptation plan Quality Assessment’ indices, called ADAQA-1/ 2/ 3, that combine six plan quality principles. H...

As recognized by the Paris Climate Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), local and subnational regions are crucial actors to achieve international mitigation and adaptation commitments. Scientific literature and empirical evidence point at multi-level climate governance as a crucial factor to engage subnat...

In Europe, regions in the Mediterranean area share common characteristics in terms of high sensitivity to climate change impacts. Does this translate into specificities regarding climate action that could arise from these Mediterranean characteristics? This paper sheds light on regional and local climate mitigation actions of the Mediterranean Euro...

This is a reply to the paper by Miroslav Variny [...]

Making public buildings smarter and more energy efficient requires tailored solutions to overcome the barriers in implementing suitable technology options in a large variety of building types. The PrioritEE project aimed to strengthen the policy-making and strategic planning competencies of local and regional public authorities in the energy manage...

Cities across the globe recognise their role in climate mitigation and are acting to reduce carbon emissions. Knowing whether cities set ambitious climate and energy targets is critical for determining their contribution towards the global 1.5 °C target, partly because it helps to identify areas where further action is necessary. This paper present...

This paper investigates the energy system of the Basilicata region (southern Italy) to highlight, through a scenario analysis, its possible future development in compliance with the European Commission's long-term vision. The IEA-ETSAP methodology was utilized to model and analyse the Basilicata energy system in a business-as-usual scenario, based...

The European Union's 2030 climate and energy policy and the 2030 Agenda for 15 Sustainable Development underline the commitment to mitigate climate change and reduce its 16 impacts by supporting sustainable use of resources. This commitment has become stricter in light 17 of the ambitious climate neutrality target set by the European Green Deal for...

Circular economy requires a material-specific and systemic approach in the design and management of production processes , as indicated in the European Commission Action Plan adopted in 2015 to promote global competitiveness, sustainable economic growth and create new jobs. This new approach implicates a more efficient use of resources within the e...

Energy consumption can be significantly reduced by targeting consumers behaviour to achieve sustained energy savings and promote sustainable consumption patterns. In this context, the younger generations are a privileged target group to promote virtuous energy behaviours in the whole community. This paper describes the Schools4energy initiative, a...

The European Union 2050 climate neutrality goal and the climate crisis require coordinated efforts to reduce energy consumption in all sectors, and mainly in buildings greatly affected by the increasing temperature, with relevant CO2 emissions due to inefficient end-use technologies. Moreover, the old building stock of most countries requires suite...

Cities are gaining prominence committing to respond to the threat of climate change, e.g., by developing local climate plans or strategies. However, little is known regarding the approaches and processes of plan development and implementation, or the success and effectiveness of proposed measures. Mainstreaming is regarded as one approach associate...

Climate Action Planning is one of the top priorities of cities in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening climate-resilience, as pointed out by the New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement. This study aims at assessing the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation planning in Italian cities. To this end, we analysed...

Climate Action Planning is one of the top priorities of cities in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening climate-resilience, as pointed out by the New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement. This study aims at assessing the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation planning in Italian cities. To this end, we analysed...

Schools4energy is a laboratory of sustainable experimentation for the implementation of good practices that aims to promote conscious and virtuous energy behaviours and energy efficiency in the schools. The activities, developed in the framework of the INTERREG MED PrioritEE project, involve the students, the teachers and the staff personnel of Pri...

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global mean temperature rise this century to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. This target has wide-ranging implications for Europe and its cities, which are the source of substantial greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reports the state of local planning for climate change by collecting and analysing i...

Building a climate-ready adaptation society is an urgent question that cannot be postponed. Along the path towards an increase in climate resilience, a stimulating role is played by EU projects as well as by international climate networks such as the Covenant of Mayors Initiative on Climate Change Adaptation (Mayors Adapt), launched in 2014, and th...

In the Mediterranean area most of the public authorities need to enhance their institutional capacity in the field of Energy Efficiency (EE) and use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in order to contribute to the Energy Performance of Buildings and the Energy Efficiency Directives, developing solutions suited to various regional contexts. The Prior...

Interregional cooperation is fundamental to improve the effectiveness of local sustainable energy policies, as a response to overarching EU strategies and commitments. The RENERGY and RE-SEEties projects constitute valuable international cooperative experiences which proved that the transfer of knowledge among scientific institutions and local auth...

The study tries to understand why and how Italian cities have started actions to reduce their contribution to climate change and become more resilient, investigating also the influence of national and international climate alliances (e.g. CoM_CE).

The Circular Economy Package issued by the European Commission in December 2015, fosters a radical change in production processes in order to facilitate the transition from a linear economic approach to a circular paradigm, preserving resources, and stimulating a sustainable economic growth. This study focuses on a prospective analysis carried out...

The transition towards a sustainable energy future, fostered by the recent European directives, requires a huge deployment of renewable and energy efficiency to reduce fossil fuels consumption in both energy production and end-use in order to respond to the urgent energy and climate challenges. Moreover, energy and climate planning deal with interc...

A Smart City is a place in which innovative technologies and ICT-based solutions coexist with an active citizen participation in order to tackle effectively major challenges in urban development. This paper aims at contributing to the discussion on how the use of technologies can foster an active engagement of citizens, discussing the example of a...

Energy and climate decision-making is a complex issue that involves interconnected systems (energy supply, transport, households, etc.) requiring a comprehensive modeling approach. In the latest years regional and local authorities have assumed a leading role in facing climate challenges and contributing to the Europe 2020 objectives, although a ma...

Conscious citizen engagement is widely recognized as a key element in the Smart City paradigm. In this framework ICT-based solutions can promote citizens awareness, theirs active involvement as well as the support from policy makers and stakeholders in the definition of sustainable urban development paths. The “Smart Basilicata” research and innova...

Cities are where most of the overall primary energy is consumed, GHG emissions are released [1] and where people are more and more frequently affected by the adverse effects of climate change [2]. On the other hand, cities are the ideal framework for implementing low-carbon policies [3] and adaptation strategies through a strategic planning process...

Cities significantly contribute to climate change while at the same time have government capacity to efficiently act in the fields of mitigation and adaptation. Their climate capacity is being increasingly recognized by international institutions and has been pointed out as crucial in the multi-level government scenario of the European Union (EU)....

The evidence of relationships between climate change induced by greenhouse gases of anthropogenic origin, and energy-economic issues (inappropriate use of fossil fuels and technologies, uncertainty in fuels price as well as in the development of markets for the supply and demand, etc.) asks for the adoption of a holistic approach in order to re-ori...

Urban areas are pivotal to global adaptation and mitigation efforts. But how do cities actually perform in terms of climate change response? This study sheds light on the state of urban climate change adaptation and mitigation planning across Europe. Europe is an excellent test case given its advanced environmental policies and high urbanization. W...

This report aims to provide a step-by step methodology with initial criteria for assessment which will be finalized based on the experiences gained during the implementation of the project in order to obtain a final integrated SEE methodological toolkit for resource efficiency with final SEE criteria for assessment. This core project output will no...

Cities are widely recognised as being pivotal to fight climate change. They magnify the drivers of climate change, experience the impacts and also concentrate the highest room for action. Although urban areas are broadly claimed to be climate leaders, there is no archetype of right actions given the highly contextual differences among them. Yet, th...

Cities are widely recognised as being pivotal to fight climate change. Cities magnify the drivers of climate change, experience the impacts and also concentrate the highest room for action. Given the 70% of the global emissions that cities are responsible for, national governments are unable to meet their international commitments for addressing mi...

Urban Integration 2014 Symposium. Organised by the COST Action TU0902 network.

-An introduction to the challenges facing urban areas and the urgent need to make them more sustainable. -A key challenge is the complexity of cities that leads to non-linear and unintended consequences of, often well meant, interventions. -Underlines the case for a more integrated response to deliver more sustainable urban areas, and the need for...

Highlights� � After accessing and contacting local authorities we reviewed approved and/or published urban climate change mitigation and adaptation plans from 200 cities in 11 European countries, and statistically analysed the plans’ regional distribution across countries and cities’ commitment in international climate networks. � Climate change re...

-Explores causes and consequences of the influence of multi-level climate governance, i.e. interaction and integration of climate action developed by the different tiers of government (national, regional and local) in two EU countries: Italy and Spain. -Conclusions are drawn based on detailed compilation, review and analyses of climate change polic...

-Focus on the urban planning and strategic policy documents related to climate change actions, i.e. adaptation or mitigation efforts, across 32 Italian cities. -The mitigation actions contained in the climate plans are further investigated through cluster analysis to aggregate cities in homogenous groups in policy strategies and mitigation actions....

Resource efficiency, which aims at producing more value while using less material and adopting different consumption patterns, has a primary role in shifting the economy towards sustainable growth and is one of the key issues of the European Commission’s Europe 2020 strategy. The Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe aims to direct the European ec...

Coordinated actions at urban level are necessary for promoting a low carbon economy and a greener and more efficient use of resources in compliance with the EU's integrated climate change and energy policy. Several initiatives have been undertaken at European level in the latest years to support local authorities moving towards more sustainable dev...

Energy system sustainability represents one of the major challenges that Europe, National Governments and Local Authorities are facing in order to achieve their economic, social and environmental objectives. The Energy and Climate European policy, the SET-Plan and other directives (e.g. Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of energy from renewable...

This report focuses on the EU state-of-art of integrated policy making and strategic planning of municipalities, in the field of waste valorisation, energy efficiency and optimal utilization of RES. Together with the WP3/Activity 3.1 report on “Resource consumption forecasting” this report is intended to form a baseline for the upcoming strategy bu...

Sustainability of energy systems is a common priority that involves key issues such as security of energy supply, mitigation of environmental impacts - the energy sector is currently responsible for 80% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions (European Environment Agency, 2007), contributing heavily to the overall emissions of local air pollutants - and...

This work is aimed to illustrate the potentiality of the multi-region NEEDS-TIMES modelling platform, in the economic evaluation of the environmental damages due to air pollution. In particular the effects of external costs on the least-cost optimised energy system configuration were analysed in a national case study with the NEEDS-TIMES Italy mode...

Sustainability of energy systems is a common priority that involves key issues such as security of energy supply, mitigation of environmental impacts - the energy sector is currently responsible for 80% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions (European Environment Agency, 2007), contributing heavily to the overall emissions of local air pollutants - and...

The implementation of resource management strategies aimed at reducing the impacts of the anthropogenic activities system requires a comprehensive approach to evaluate on the whole the environmental burdens of productive processes and to identify the best recovery strategies from both an environmental and an economic point of view.In this framework...

Sustainability of energy systems has a strategic role in the current energy-environmental policies as it involves key issues such as security of energy supply, mitigation of environmental impact (with special regard to air quality improvement) and energy affordability. In this framework modelling activities are more than ever a strategic issue in o...

Sustainability of energy systems requires drastic changes of production and consumption standards, in order to fulfil energy and material demand with a lower quantity of resources and to reduce the whole impacts including also the environmental damages caused by the human activities. The internalisation of external costs in the pricing system can...

The relationships between anthropogenic activities and the environment require a careful analysis of economic and technological implication of energy-climate policies, to redirect the energy systems towards a sustainable configuration. This implies the implementation of innovative decisional tools for policy assessment to support the policy makers...

n this study the environmental balance of the industrial district of the Potenza town (Southern Italy) is presented. This study represents the first attempt of analytically evaluating the relationships between the industrial activities, their impacts and environmental quality, setting up a reference document for analysing the monitoring trends and...

Approaching the national Kyoto Protocol (KP) targets involves a re-definition of the actual configuration of local energy systems. This study deals with a local scale application of the IEA-MARKAL models generator, in which the anthropogenic system of Basilicata Region (Southern Italy) is investigated to support the definition of coherent long-term...

Power production systems are responsible for the most of local air pollutants as well as greenhouse gases emissions. Renewable energy technologies allow to reduce atmospheric pollution, but their total environmental impact (all life cycle’s phases) should be carefully assessed to avoid environmental degradation. The aim of this work was to characte...

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the MARKAL comprehensive model in the development of coherent medium-term strategies and sound climate protection policies at local level. The local case study (Val d’Agri, Basilicata region, Italy) discusses the possible role of local communities in the achievement of the national objectives derive...

Renewable sources represent an effective alternative to fossil fuels for preventing resources depletion and for reducing air pollution. However, their diffusion requires huge capital investment and major infrastructure changes, which have to be assessed to verify their effectiveness. The article present an application of the R-MARKAL model to inves...

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and comprehensive models represent, at present, two powerful tools to support decision-makers in the definition of environmental recovery strategies. Their integration can therefore represent an essential step for defining an advanced methodology to perform a robust multicriteria decision analysis which enables the indiv...

Approaching the national Kyoto Protocol (KP) targets involves a re-definition of the actual configuration of local energy systems. This study deals with a local scale application of the IEA-MARKAL models generator, in which the anthropogenic system of Basilicata Region (Southern Italy) is investigated to support the definition of coherent long-term...