EU green light for the Just transition fund which allocates 1.2 billion to Taranto and Sulcis
[ad_1]
More than one billion and 200 million to design the future of Sulcis Iglesiente and the province of Taranto, through actions ranging from environmental remediation to the production of green energy with hydrogen renewables, to create new jobs.
The opportunity comes from Europe, specifically, with the Just Transition Fund (JTF) program and territorial plans designed and implemented in “coherence” with the Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate. Of the 17.5 billion euros available in the European scenario, 1.029 billion euros go to Italy, which becomes 1.211 with the national contribution. The go-ahead, with the approval of the JTF 2021-2027 National Program by the European Commission, arrived on 16 December, thanks to a year-end sprint that allowed the go-ahead also to Por Basilicata and Pon Metropolitan cities . The Pon Administrative capacity remains “entangled” which will be approved in January.
Two territorial plans
The resources of the national JTF will go for 367 million euros to Sulcis Iglesiente and 796 to the province of Taranto. Another 48.4 million is earmarked for technical assistance. Diversification and sustainability are the watchwords and basic objectives of the programme, the management of which is entrusted to the Cohesion Agency while the Puglia and Sardinia regions are the intermediate bodies for implementation in the territories. Interventions will be financed to counter the effects of the transition “by increasing the share of energy produced from renewable sources for businesses and people and by intervening on situations of environmental compromise”. The objective of the plan is “to promote the diversification of the local production system aimed at countering the effects of the transition” and “mitigating the social and employment effects of the transition”. All within the context of two areas that have a total population of 700,000 inhabitants to “support the diffusion of sustainable development paths, supporting in particular the unemployed and workers at risk as a result of the transition, families affected by energy poverty and local communities called to redesign their own physiognomy in a decarbonised society”.
The Sulcis Iglesiente
In the Sulcis Iglesiente, an area that includes 23 municipalities (Buggerru, Calasetta, Carbonia, Carloforte, Domusnovas, Fluminimaggiore, Giba, Gonnesa, Iglesias, Masainas, Musei, Narcao, Nuxis, Perdaxius, Piscinas, Portoscuso, San Giovanni Suergiu, Santadi, Sant’Anna Arresi, Sant’Antioco, Tratalias, Villamassargia and Villaperuccio), the support will go to the promotion of renewable energy, the establishment of energy communities, the modernization of transport networks and dispatching and accumulation systems, as well as the reclamation of sites to be devoted to new economic activities. The remediation interventions should generate a circular economy path through the use of recycled materials. Interventions also foreseen in agriculture, sustainable tourism and the sea economy.
From hydrogen to spirulina
Several ideas are on the field in the context of the programs carried out in the Sulcis and at the center of outline cards sent to the Region. These include the project for the construction of a center of excellence for the production of clean energy and that for the preparation of a storage centre. Also in the field is a project for the production of spirulina algae in the coal mine now being decommissioned, and the treatment and reuse of red mud. «Sardinia is ready to take up the challenge of transitioning towards an economic and productive model in step with the times – says the president of the Region Christian Solinas -. The rehabilitation of abandoned mining areas and their reconversion represents an important step forward for the future of Sulcis. Sardinia decisively chooses the path of green and high technology and certainly the endowment that is destined today is a concrete help for a long-range redevelopment action, and opens up new scenarios for a different industrial development than in the past, more environmental friendly”.
Province of Taranto
Also in this case the starting point is the production of energy from renewable sources, with particular attention then to the production of hydrogen. Then there are activities for the rehabilitation of polluted areas and the reconversion of the workforce that has left the production paths and the retraining in the so-called blue economy. In Taranto, the Municipality intends to involve the industries that recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding for strategic programmes. The administration’s idea is to involve large industries in projects deemed strategic within the “4 axes” that integrate the local plan prepared within the Just Transition Fund: urban regeneration; ecological regeneration; socio-economic regeneration; cultural regeneration. «The city – Mayor Rinaldo Melucci says in a note – is already affected by very impactful initiatives destined to change its face. We would like to convey the idea that the industrial subjects who have signed up to the protocol are the stakeholders of this transition path”. The territorial plan for the province of Taranto involves 29 municipalities (Avetrana, Carosino, Castellaneta, Crispiano, Faggiano, Fragagnano, Ginosa, Grottaglie, Laterza, Leporano, Lizzano, Manduria, Martina Franca, Maruggio, Massafra, Monteiasi, Montemesola, Monteparano, Mottola , Palagianello, Palagiano, Pulsano, Roccaforzata, San Giorgio Ionico, San Marzano di San G., Sava, Statte, Taranto and Torricella.)
[ad_2]
Source link
