Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan of the Municipality of Bergamo
On 4 March 2024, the City Council of the Municipality of Bergamo approved the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan – SECAP of the Municipality of Bergamo, committing to achieve by 2030 at least a 55% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to 2005 levels.
The Municipal Administration of Bergamo had joined the Covenant of Mayors in December 2009 and carried out three monitoring reports, two of which were prepared by the TerrAria srl team. With the latest monitoring of the SEAP “Final Report”, prepared in 2021, the target of a 20% reduction in emissions had been reached and exceeded.
In November 2021, the Mayor renewed the Municipality’s participation in the Covenant of Mayors, taking a further step forward by integrating its commitment with climate change adaptation actions and committing to shift its emissions reduction target to at least 55% of CO₂ by 2030, while aiming for the decarbonization of the municipal territory by 2050.
As anticipated, the Mitigation Plan aims to reduce CO₂ emissions recorded in Bergamo in 2005 by 55% through actions aimed at reducing consumption and therefore energy savings, improving the efficiency of existing assets, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, and promoting awareness among citizens. The 2021 emissions inventory already shows a 37% reduction in emissions compared to 2005 (the baseline year for the SECAP of the Municipality of Bergamo). The main sectors of intervention on which the Action Plan focuses are:
- The municipal tertiary sector, specifically municipal buildings, for which an energy efficiency program is currently underway through an EPC (Energy Performance Contract);
- The residential sector, where interventions are planned to modernize technological systems related to lighting, improve the efficiency of obsolete boilers, and implement energy-saving measures related to building envelopes;
- The non-municipal tertiary sector, where a reduction in thermal and electrical consumption is expected through energy-saving actions.
Another important sector of intervention is public lighting, where efficiency improvements are planned through the completion of the replacement of obsolete components with LED technology.
For the sustainable mobility sector, within the Mitigation Plan and in line with the Urban Sustainable Mobility Plan, the goal is to encourage citizens to adopt soft mobility through the development of cycle paths, pedestrian areas, and participation in the Pedibus service.
Thanks to the actions envisaged by the Mitigation Plan, it is expected that the target of a 55% reduction in CO₂ emissions, equal to 101’350 tonnes, will be achieved by 2030, and potentially exceeded. In addition to reducing CO₂ emissions, the SECAP is expected to increase the use of renewable energy sources and reduce overall energy consumption.
Among the strategic actions introduced by the SECAP is the development of Renewable Energy Communities (REC). In particular, the SECAP includes the creation of a public REC (the feasibility study submitted to the Regione Lombardia call for proposals was prepared by TerrAria), which can serve as a tool to combat energy poverty.
The Adaptation Plan, on the other hand, was based on the Climate Transition Strategy Cli.c. of Bergamo, which—through a non-repayable grant of € 2’400’000 from Fondazione Cariplo and Regione Lombardia—identified seven categories of intervention areas within which 19 climate change adaptation actions have been defined.
THE ROLE OF TERRARIA
TerrAria supported the Municipal Administration of Bergamo from the phase of drafting the second Monitoring Report and the Final Report of the SEAP. In particular, it prepared the inventory of energy consumption and emissions for the Municipality of Bergamo for the years 2019 and 2020, and assessed the achievement of the target established by the SEAP also by verifying the level of completion of the actions identified during the SEAP drafting phase.
For the drafting of the SECAP of the Municipality of Bergamo, in addition to the energy and emissions inventory updated to 2021, the new emission reduction target was defined while maintaining 2005 as the BEI (Baseline Emission Inventory) year. In order to achieve the 55% CO₂ emission reduction target, new mitigation actions were identified together with climate change adaptation actions, as well as cross-cutting actions capable of contributing both to mitigation and adaptation. Furthermore, through the identification of REC, the Plan also addresses the issue of energy poverty.
