City Reflections & Ambitions - Modena

"Locally, thanks to the commitments to the Covenant of Mayors first, and the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy later, the City of Modena is setting its path to reduce carbon emissions and draft an adaptation plan to combat climate change. Carbon neutrality is the next step: an ambitious challenge that the Administration is pursuing by aligning to science-based targets and committing to zero net carbon emissions by 2050 through the Zero Carbon Cities project co-financed by the European URBACT III program (2014-2020) and by the National Rotation Fund. The activities developed during the course of Zero Carbon Cities, shortly described in this Integrated Action Plan, aim to put to system a series of actions promoted both by the local public institutions and by the private sector. Thanks to the collaboration of the bodies operating in the municipal area, good practices and future development strategies are being identified, on the issues of mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Only thanks to the collaboration of all, the municipal plans and strategies will be able to guarantee the achievement of the objectives that the Administration intends to reach, in such an important sector as that of the fight against climate change"

Alessandra Filippi, Councillor for Environment and Sustainable Mobility

SETA manages the local public transport in the province of Modena and is therefore committed to the improvement of the public transport effectiveness and efficiency as a key measure to change the culture of mobility.

The planned actions for 2050 will enhance the offer of services through the optimization of journeys, the increase of punctuality and commercial speed, the renewal of the vehicle fleet with more efficient and sustainable means, the implementation of exclusive preferential lanes and the introduction of new smart technologies for booking journeys.

Furthermore, in the not-so-distant future, it could be possible to develop a test line of self-driving hydrogen buses, on a dedicated lane.

Energy poverty is one of our challenges to reach carbon neutrality and promote environmental and social justice.

To combat it is necessary to implement synergic interventions, including informing families,
accompany households in identifying the best strategies, and start a dialogue with local public and private institutions.

Therefore, Legambiente and Caritas are launching a pilot project on energy poverty in the Crocetta district in Modena, in order to support the lower income households in reducing their energy cost and increasing comfort and energy awareness.

Activities will include interviews with stakeholders and families, analysis of neighborhood social and structural features, and facilitation activities for an energy community constitution.

Within the Zero Carbon Cities project University of Modena and Reggio Emilia aims to develop three pilot actions to strengthen the knowledge, education and research on sustainability.

The first is to open to citizens the “Cross-cutting Skills on Sustainability" training course, and to identify sustainability targets for all courses offered by the University.

The second proposal is the creation of a “Green Office” to coordinate all the activities related to sustainability inside the University. For example mobility, charging stations for electric cars and carbon footprint.

Finally, the research activities will support the energy transition focusing on the Interdepartmental Center on Hydrogen, life cycle assessment of different types of materials, renewable energy and energy saving, and urban heat islands.

ISDE Modena proposes the realization of eco-sustainable and totally green gyms, in which to promote physical activity with zero energy impact, transforming the consumers into prosumers.

The gyms will be equipped with sports gear able to transform the kinetic energy produced by muscle activity, into electrical energy. By doing so, gyms could produce energy for lighting, cooling or heating the rooms.

So, training on a treadmill or a stationary bike could contribute to the carbon neutrality of the city!

In addition, each gym could calculate how much carbon dioxide would be avoided in the atmosphere for each kWh of electricity saved.

This initiative is important not only for the environment but also for people's health in the perspective to reduce the costs for diseases related to overweight and obesity.

The Modena Integrated Action Plan was drafted with an integrated approach, that took into consideration vertical, horizontal, territorial and resources integration:

• the local ULG who collaborated to the definition of a carbon neutral vision for the future of the city is made of diverse and heterogenous stakeholders working in the fields of environment, agriculture and food, education and culture, housing, finance, industry, health, transports, water management and multiutility; they participated enthusiastically to the activities and promoted pilot actions as part of the overall strategy guaranteeing the vertical integration of the Plan;

• diverse city departments and offices were involved in the definition of the strategy, such as Communication Office, Urban Planning and Sustainability Sector, Environment Private Building and Productive Activities Sector, Environment and Mobility Sector, Europe Direct, Civil Protection ensuring a strong horizontal sharing of the promoted initiatives;

• the involvement of territorial groups in the ULG meetings will allow a wider impact of the Plan along neighbouring territories, promoting the cooperation of the city of Modena with nearby municipalities;

• the mixture of hard investments (physical measures) and soft (awareness-raising activities) is a good example of complementary resources integration with diverse actions to be developed to achieve the carbon neutral goal.

In conclusion, Modena’s Integrated Action Plan, is not only coherent with ongoing strategies, but responding to the local needs emerged during the confrontation with the local stakeholders. In fact, setting the path towards carbon neutrality can only come out of a strong shared journey, were diverse actors are committed to achieve this ambitious goal.