Spatial Planning
Sustainable development and prevention of environmental damage TerrAria is committed to offering a quality service in the preparation of di Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA), addressing a wide range of territorial Plans, such as the SEA of the Regional Plan for Cycling Mobility, based on the provisions of Regional Law 7/2009, the interventions to encourage the development of bicycle mobility, the SEA of the Regional Waste Management Programme for the Lombardy region and the Update of the Air Quality Improvement Plan and the SEA of the Lazio Region. The SEA is a systematic process designed to assess the environmental implications of plans and programs prior to their approval. This tool helps integrate environmental considerations into strategic decisions, ensuring sustainable development and preventing negative impacts on the environment. The company’s expertise spans a wide range of activities, from the initial assessment of environmental impacts to the formulation of mitigation strategies, thus ensuring an integrated and sustainable approach to land-use planning. TerrAria’s team of experts specializes in the analysis and monitoring of environmental indicators, which are essential for measuring the effectiveness of measures taken and ensuring compliance with established environmental standards. In particular, TerrAria has addressed the energy issues of the monitoring activities of the Regional Environmental Energy Plan of Sardinia Region. With in-depth knowledge of national and European regulations, the company is able to offer specific advice, adopting a methodological approach that involves continuous interaction with stakeholders, ensuring that any assessment is transparent and participatory. TerrAria is also involved in supporting the drafting of Air Quality Plans.
Climate change
Strategies to support climate transition TerrAria actively addresses the issue of climate change by providing technical support in accompanying Administrations in the co-design of Climate Transition Strategies (CTS), focused on improving and redefining the cognitive framework, objectives, content, timeline and costs of actions, governance of the implementation and monitoring of the strategies implemented. In addition, in a context of awareness with respect to the urgency of initiating policies and actions that counter and mitigate the effects of climate change, TerrAria supports administrations in defining their own climate scenarios in regional Adaptation Plans. The team has been particularly involved in the Climate Transition Strategy for the territories of Brescia and Bergamo and the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the Region of Puglia. As part of consulting for manufacturing companies, TerrAria is involved in drafting the “GHG Protocol” to establish a comprehensive and standardized framework for measuring and managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from public and private sector activities.
Energy management for public administrations
Optimising energy consumption for local authorities For years, the TerrAria team has been carrying out Energy Management activities for numerous public administrations. Analyzing the consumption of public buildings, public lighting and their vehicle fleets, checking the trend over time, any anomalies, is in fact, the first step to identify possibilities for rationalization of consumption and energy efficiency of their assets. Among the energy management activities implemented by the team, which can affect energy consumption, are the monitoring of consumption and anomalies, assessment on the most energy-hungry buildings and/or facilities for the identification of energy efficiency interventions, energy diagnosis, energy benchmarking activities and suggestions for good management and use of municipal assets. These activities enable the preparation and support of planning tools, such as the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP). The team is responsible for analyzing energy contracts and monitoring them on an ongoing basis, assessing the correct application of VAT, and analyzing the achievement of energy goals of energy services and Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs) by providing technical-legal assistance, including in the context of obtaining regional and national incentives. In addition, TerrAria has now active the Energy Desk at the Public Administration of the Municipality of Brescia; the energy desk represents a free information system, in the energy field, available to citizens as well as specific technical advice to operators in the area.
Energy efficiency for business and individuals
Monitoring and reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions One of TerrAria’s missions is to support the process of defining interventions to reduce climate-altering gas emissions and energy consumption, promoting energy efficiency and combining environmental and economic benefits. TerrAria provides consulting and specific software (ERGapp) to companies in order to know their energy footprint and evaluate efficiency actions through the preparation of energy diagnoses. It has also made available a consumption monitoring system to monitor and analyze energy consumption in real time, as well as reconstruct the company’s energy balance sheet and energy model. TerrAria also in the context of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) promotes and encourages the establishment of such associations and coordinates their subsequent management. Always at the side of companies, it supports them on the path to ISO 50001 certification with the goal of continuous improvement of their energy performance. In the area of consulting for manufacturing companies, TerrAria assists companies in identifying sources of greenhouse gas emissions and conducts related data collection. It also deals with carbon footprint, or the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions for which the company is responsible, through the quantification and monitoring of emissions and an evaluation of possible mitigation. It also carries out the assessment of emissions related to each stage of a product’s life cycle, identifying critical issues and devising reduction strategies. TerrAria is also dedicated to evaluating the conditions for obtaining the 110% superbonus incentive, analyzing the building energy upgrades that best suit the specific context.
Climate Transition
Climate transition and adaptation strategies Climate transition is a cross-cutting challenge that requires robust analytical tools, the ability to integrate sectoral policies and a long-term vision. In this context, TerrAria supports Public Administrations in developing Climate Transition Strategies, based on scientific analyses and an in-depth reading of territorial specificities, assisting public bodies in defining pathways consistent with national and European decarbonisation objectives. With regard to mitigation policies, TerrAria performs climate analyses and emissions assessments, identifying strategies and measures aimed at reducing climate-altering gases across different sectors of intervention. Integration between climate policies and environmental and energy planning makes it possible to build coordinated strategic frameworks capable of generating synergies across mobility, energy, buildings, land use and infrastructure management. In this way, Climate Transition Strategies become operational tools that can steer public choices towards more sustainable development models consistent with climate transition objectives. Alongside mitigation, a central role is devoted to climate change adaptation, an area that requires specific assessments of risks, the vulnerability of territorial systems and the response capacity of local communities. TerrAria supports Administrations in building dedicated knowledge frameworks, analysing expected impacts and defining climate change adaptation strategies at local and regional level, identifying concrete measures to strengthen urban resilience, reduce exposure to climate risks and improve the management of extreme events. In this context, technical assistance activities carried out within programmes promoted by Fondazione Cariplo are also relevant, aimed at supporting local authorities in developing and implementing energy and climate policies. TerrAria assists beneficiary Administrations in translating strategic guidelines into concrete actions, supporting technical analysis, the definition of measures and the coordination of different planning instruments, with particular attention to consistency between climate and decarbonisation objectives, economic sustainability and administrative capacity. Climate change adaptation is now an integral part of sectoral and territorial planning. For this reason, TerrAria promotes an integrated approach that makes it possible to embed Climate Transition Strategies within existing planning instruments, making them consistent, operational and monitorable over time, supporting a climate transition pathway.
Environmental Planning
Air quality and climate plans TerrAria offers a specialist service dedicated to environmental planning, providing support to Public Administrations in developing strategic instruments related to air quality policies and climate change. Thanks to strong scientific expertise and a multidisciplinary approach, we assist municipalities, provinces and regions in developing plans that meet local needs, are up to date and consistent with the main European and national regulatory frameworks. Our work covers sectoral planning, integrating energy-environmental data, forecasting models, socio-economic indicators and impact analyses. This approach strengthens coordination across environmental sectors, improves the quality of public decision-making and makes climate and air quality policies more effective. Activities include defining the knowledge base, structuring objectives, building future scenarios and assessing measures—core elements of environmental planning aimed at improving environmental quality and territorial resilience. Within air quality and climate plans, TerrAria supports Public Administrations in the integrated analysis of pollutant dynamics, main emission sources and the meteoclimatic factors that influence atmospheric concentrations. Activities include assessing the effectiveness of planned measures, analysing the cumulative effects of sectoral policies and building intervention scenarios consistent with the local context. The objective is to provide public bodies with robust technical tools to develop strategies capable of improving air quality while contributing to climate sustainability and health protection objectives, in line with national and European guidance. The service is complemented by operational activities such as modelling analyses, preparation of strategic documents, stakeholder engagement and results monitoring to support the environmental planning process.
Technical-Legal Assistance
EPC contracts supporting energy refurbishment Technical-legal assistance is a key element in enabling Public Administrations to turn energy and climate objectives into concrete, sustainable measures that are properly structured from a procedural perspective while ensuring the economic sustainability of investments. In particular, an integrated technical-legal support approach makes it possible to accompany the energy refurbishment processes of public assets balancing energy performance and economic sustainability for public bodies. In this context, TerrAria assists public bodies throughout the most complex phases of decision-making and implementation processes, providing integrated support that combines technical, legal and economic-financial expertise. The service is particularly oriented towards the definition and management of advanced contractual instruments necessary for implementing energy refurbishment and energy efficiency measures in contexts characterised by budget constraints and administrative complexity. The technical-legal assistance provided by TerrAria supports Administrations in choosing the most appropriate implementation methods, structuring procedural paths and preparing the documentation required to ensure transparency, robustness and consistency with the current regulatory framework. Activities include, among others, energy refurbishment of public buildings and public lighting networks, areas in which the adoption of advanced contractual models makes it possible to enhance energy savings and ensure management continuity. An increasingly important role is played by European technical assistance programmes, such as the PROSPER project, within which TerrAria operates as an advisor in the field of technical-legal assistance. In these contexts, support concerns investment planning, the assessment of the financial and economic sustainability of energy refurbishment measures and the preparation of the acts necessary to activate public-private partnership models, reducing procedural risks and improving the overall quality of operations. Within this framework, TerrAria assists Public Administrations in tender procedures for the awarding of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts, with particular reference to EPC (Energy Performance Contract) contracts. Support includes the definition of performance objectives, the preparation of tender documents, the evaluation of bids and the analysis of economic-financial plans, with the aim of enhancing energy savings and structuring energy refurbishment measures with guaranteed results. Over the years TerrAria has supported at least 70 Administrations in signing EPC contracts, helping to make complex contractual models operational and to promote the effective use of public resources through innovative and sustainable solutions.
Self-Consumption Configurations for Renewable Energy Sharing
Energy self-sufficiency Self-Consumption Configurations for Renewable Energy Sharing represent a concrete evolution of shared energy policies: they allow citizens, companies and public bodies to use renewable energy in a coordinated way, promoting immediate forms of collective self-consumption without the need to establish a structured community as in the case of Renewable Energy Communities (REC). This model enables territories to develop flexible and accessible solutions capable of strengthening local energy self-sufficiency and reducing dependence on the grid. TerrAria supports Public Administrations and local stakeholders throughout the entire process of defining and activating these configurations, starting from the analysis of energy potential and the verification of technical and regulatory conditions. The service includes energy flow modelling, assessment of environmental and economic benefits, and definition of organisational arrangements and internal governance. A significant part of the support concerns the preparation of applications for incentives dedicated to shared energy, ensuring the correct interpretation of current regulations, the preparation of technical and administrative documentation and the verification of eligibility requirements. TerrAria also assists public bodies in the management of subsequent procedures, guaranteeing a compliant and transparent process. Thanks to its technical expertise and knowledge of local dynamics, TerrAria helps local stakeholders choose the most suitable configuration and optimise its operation over time. These configurations thus become a tool for reducing energy costs, actively involving the community and promoting virtuous models for renewable energy management. Building on the experience gained with Renewable Energy Communities, TerrAria uses decision-support tools that foster the technical and economic sustainability of configurations in the long term.
Noise Mapping
Noise assessment and exposed population Noise Mapping describes the existing or forecast noise situation in order to identify the number of citizens exposed to excessive noise levels and guides the responsible authorities in selecting the most appropriate mitigation strategies. The entities required to prepare Noise Mapping for noise assessment are the operators of public transport services or the related infrastructure, with road axes on which more than 3’000’000 vehicles per year transit, railway axes on which more than 60’000 convoys per year transit and the main airports. The validity of the Mapping is 5 years. Noise Mapping therefore makes it possible to carry out noise assessment through the sound isolines relating to the different environmental indicators (Lden, Lnight), the population exposed to the different acoustic classes and the number of sensitive receptors located within the different acoustic bands. Once any critical issues have emerged, possible mitigation strategies are identified for the different areas of the territory, described, analysed and quantified within the related Action Plan. Possible interventions include: establishment of limited traffic zones; construction of roundabouts; noise barriers; installation of speed bumps; resurfacing of the road surface; low-noise asphalt.
Strategic Environmental Assessments
Understanding the environmental implications of plans and programmes Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an essential tool for integrating environmental aspects into the decision-making processes of Public Administrations, ensuring that each plan or programme is developed with full awareness of its environmental implications and promoting responsible management of territory and resources. TerrAria provides multidisciplinary expertise for all phases of Strategic Environmental Assessment: from defining the methodological approach to building the knowledge base, from identifying relevant critical issues to assessing alternative scenarios, through to drafting the Environmental Report and managing the participatory process. The Environmental Report is the core document that analyses the environmental effects of the plan or programme, assesses alternatives, identifies mitigation measures and defines the monitoring system, ensuring informed decisions consistent with environmental sustainability objectives. A key role is played by environmental indicators, which are fundamental for providing a measurable description of the state of the environment and monitoring the evolution of territorial transformations. Environmental indicators are calibrated to the local context and the objectives of the plan, ensuring an information system that is consistent, verifiable and useful for objectively assessing different alternatives. Through advanced analytical tools, TerrAria supports public bodies in defining reliable environmental indicators that are comparable over time and closely linked to the environmental implications of plans. The analysis of environmental implications links plan objectives with the physical, ecological and socio-economic characteristics of the territory, identifying potential effects on air, water, soil, biodiversity, climate and landscape. This makes it possible to highlight critical issues, define appropriate mitigation measures and propose environmental sustainability-oriented solutions. SEA thus becomes a tool for improving the plan and strengthening its internal consistency. A further key element concerns the definition of monitoring measures, which are necessary to verify over time the effectiveness of actions and to update environmental indicators based on actual outcomes. SEA therefore takes on a dynamic character, based on a continuous process of assessing the environmental implications arising from plan implementation. Within the scope of SEA, the Appropriate Assessment (AA) supplements the assessment process if potential interference with protected habitats and species emerges, requiring a specific impact study in accordance with current regulations. The Appropriate Assessment is the procedure provided for by the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC aimed at verifying the effects of plans and programmes on Natura 2000 sites, through the preparation of an impact study and the related impact assessment. The service is completed by support for participatory moments, engagement with the competent environmental authorities and assistance during the adoption and approval phases, ensuring a transparent, structured process consistent with the principles of Strategic Environmental Assessment.
