Emilia-Romagna Regional Integrated Air Plan
TerrAria contributed to the drafting of the new Regional Integrated Air Plan with a 2030 time horizon and its related Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) on behalf of the Emilia-Romagna Region, providing its consolidated expertise in regional air strategy planning and actively collaborating with regional stakeholders.
The Emilia-Romagna Regional Integrated Air Plan 2030, approved by Legislative Assembly Resolution No. 152 of 30 January 2024 and in force since 6 February 2024, the date of publication in BURERT No. 34, aims to identify concrete actions to comply with air quality standards and reduce pollutant emissions across the regional territory, in line with the provisions of European Directive 2008/50/EC and its transposition through Legislative Decree 155/2010.
The Plan’s air strategy is committed to meeting the limit values for the most critical pollutants set by legislation, acting promptly to reduce emissions of both primary pollutants and precursors of secondary pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NOX, SO2, NH3, VOCs), and preventing acute pollution episodes by reducing local peaks. In this context, compared to the 2017 baseline scenario, the Air Plan targets emission reductions of 13% for PM10 and PM2.5, 12% for nitrogen oxides (NOX), 29% for ammonia (NH3), 6% for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and 13% for sulfur dioxide (SO2).
The measures envisaged by the air strategy focus on the main emitting sectors—transport, energy, industry, agriculture, and livestock farming—through coordinated actions. In particular, the regional plan provides for:
- Strengthening public transport by road and rail, alongside the renewal of the bus fleet and incentives for freight transport by rail.
- Incentives for replacing outdated biomass systems with next-generation systems, as well as the introduction of a temperature limit of 19°C for homes, offices, and public spaces, and 17°C for commercial and industrial buildings. The installation and use of biomass heating systems in lowland areas are also regulated.
- The gradual upgrading of business practices to reduce emissions, continuing the promotion of agreements at local or territorial level.
- Funding for covering livestock manure storage tanks, improving the efficiency of storage systems, and enhancing slurry and fertilizer spreading techniques, with the obligation to incorporate livestock effluents into the soil within 12 hours of spreading.
The regional Plan also provides for the extension of actions beyond the local scale to the entire Po Valley basin, as well as a significant increase in the number of municipalities involved, reaching 207 municipalities compared to 22 under the previous regional plan.
THE ROLE OF TERRARIA
TerrAria contributed to defining and assessing the measures of the Integrated Air Plan 2030 air strategy, supporting regional technicians and ARPAE experts responsible for the Air Plan through its distinctive modelling-based approach.
In particular, the specialist support activities provided by TerrAria included the definition and evaluation of a baseline scenario and a “theoretical” 2030 scenario using the RIAT+ tool, the identification of priority actions, and the cost-benefit analysis of the Air Plan’s measures.
RIAT+ is an integrated assessment and decision support software (DSS) designed to assist regional decision-makers in air strategy planning by selecting the most effective emission reduction technologies to improve air quality at optimal cost. The tool has been tested and applied in several European regions with different specific objectives. In the specific case of the Emilia-Romagna Plan 2030, RIAT+ was used in “optimization” mode to assess the effectiveness of the measures (both technical and non-technical) included in the Air Plan’s air strategy.
