Climate change and the adoption of renewable energy sources. The case of Italy


Essay, 2014

24 Pages, Grade: 2A


Excerpt


Introduction: the fight against Climate Change at the global, EU, and national level

As almost unanimously acknowledged, human activities, such as industrial production, agriculture, household heating and cooling, transportation, and – last but not least – energy generation, are the main cause of climate change. The United Nations – just to cite an eminent international institution which is dealing with the issue, recently recognised that: “Global warming is unequivocal, human influence has been the dominant cause since the mid-20th century, and atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases […] will persist for many centuries.”[1] The Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report, states that “human activities are continuing to affect the Earth’s energy budget by changing the emissions and resulting atmospheric concentrations of gases and aerosols and by changing land surface properties.”[2]

All the human activities mentioned above produce a negative externality: they release Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Emissions to the atmosphere.

At the international level, thirty-nine countries signed the Kyoto Protocol on 11 December 1997, which entered to force on 16 February 2005 and sets internationally binding emission reduction targets. In December 2012, the parties adopted an amendment to the Protocol, and seven other nations joined the previous signatories.[3] The obligatoriness of the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol has not been completely fulfilled by the countries which agreed to them. The principal reason, as highlighted by the Harvard Magazine in 2002, is that the way the Protocol was drafted is “economically inefficient, unobjective, inequitable, and – worst of all – ineffective. […] The original agreement outlined in Kyoto committed individual countries to reduce their CO2 emissions to below-1990 levels. But the choice of 1990 immediately introduced inequities into the ensuing political process to determine who should cut how much.”[4] Nowadays, the Protocol is joined by 192 parties.

The European Union has been implementing climate change tackling policies since 1991, when the first “Community Strategy to limit Carbon Dioxide emissions and improve energy efficiency”[5] was issued. The first European Climate Change Programme, issued in order to enhance the possibilities to fulfil the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol was launched in 2000 and it lasted until 2004.

The aim of this work is to analyse the fundamental actions implemented by Italy as regards Climate Change policy. As an European Union Member State, Italy has to comply with the obligations set by the legislative framework developed by the European institutions in this field. One of the fundamental tools in order to achieve a substantial and sustainable reduction in GHG emissions is the promotion of the renewable energy sources (RES), both in the electricity generation and in the transportation sectors.

The study will be carried out by looking at the fundamental European legislative instruments, which are, first of all, the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC, also known as Renewable Energy Directive or RED, and the Directive on the Promotion of Clean and Energy Efficient Road Transport Vehicles.

The analysis of the Italian legislative and regulatory framework will be based on several national documents, among which it is now possible to cite the Italian National Energy Renewable Action Plan (in line with the provisions of Directive 2009/28/EC and Commission Decision of 30 June 2009)[6] and the National Energy Strategy (Strategia Energetica Nazionale).[7]

This paper will be articulated in three main parts: the first part will describe the factual situation regarding the Italian energy mix, GHG emissions level, and the state of the development of the RES. The second part will discuss about the legislative framework in force in Italy in these two fields. The third part will analyse the criticisms of this framework and will provide recommendations in order to facilitate the move to a low-carbon energy sector, as well as some future scenarios.

A general view of the Italian situation

According to the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), Italy energy dependence on imports amounted to 85.2% in 2007.[8] The European Commission estimates that in the same year this figure was 87%, which represented a peak, inasmuch it decreased to 84% three years later.[9] As recognised by the Italian National Energy Strategy, published in 2013, this overwhelming dependence on energy sources imports has led to a situation in which it is possible to identify two main challenges:

- Too high energy prices both for households and businesses, which are higher than in other European countries;
- Security of supply concerns in moments of peak demand, in particular as regards natural gas.[10]

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Italy : Primary Energy Consumption by fuel (2010 estimates).[11]

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Italy : Final Energy Consumption by Sector (2010).[12]

The two graphs above summarise the Italian energy mix.

The following picture describes the shares of GHG emissions by main source and by gas in 2010:

Shares of GHG emissions by source and by gas, 2010.[13]

Between 2009 and 2010, GHG emissions in Italy grew by 2%: the European Environment Agency explains this feature as follows:

Emissions increased mainly in industry […], households and services, petroleum refining and other energy industries (mainly covering power plants on iron and steel production sites using coal gases). Steel production increased by 30% compared to 2009; also power production from coal gases increased considerably. Emissions from refineries grew in 2010 compared to 2009 due to the [relative] economic recovery. Emissions from households and services may have increased – at least partly – due to colder winter months compared to 2009.[14]

The following chart shows that, apart from the LULUCF (Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry) Mechanism,[15] all but the Transport Sector and other unspecified sectors in Italy registered a negative figure from 1990 and 2011 as regards the GHG emissions removals, as to say an increase in the GHG emissions:

illustration not visible in this excerpt

According to the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD), Italy has to reduce its CO2 emissions by 2020 by 13%, and to increase the share of renewable sources of energy in its final consumption by 17%.[16] The European Commission data show that Italy has a gap between 2020 projections and the 2020 target of -8%, as regards the reduction in GHG emissions, as to say: the country is currently not on track to fulfil its obligations in this field. Similarly, Italy has not been successful in promoting the renewable sources of energy: the figure in 2011 was 11.5%.[17]

[...]


[1] UN News Centre, 30 January 2014. Available at: <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/story.asp?NewsID=47047&Cr=climate+change&Cr1#.U0Ksjah5M9A> accessed on 7 April 2014.

[2] Working Group I Technical Support Unit, Climate Change 2013, The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, New York 2013. Available at: <http://ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/> accessed on 8 April 2014.

[3] See: <https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php> and <https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/doha_amendment/items/7362.php> both accessed on 7 April 2014.

[4] See: <http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/11/problems-with-the-protoc.html> accessed on 7 April 2014.

[5] Available at: <http://aei.pitt.edu/4931/1/4931.pdf> Accessed on 7 April 2014.

[6] Available at: <http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/action_plan_en.htm> accessed on 2 April 2014.

[7] Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, Strategia Energetica Nazionale, per un’energia più competitiva e sostenibile (Italian Ministry for Economic Development, National Energy Strategy, for a more competitive and sustainable Energy), Rome, March 2013.

Available at: <http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/images/stories/normativa/20130314_Strategia_Energetica_Nazionale.pdf>

[8] EREC, Renewable Energy Policy Review, Italy, 2009, p. 1. Available at: <http://www.erec.org/fileadmin/erec_docs/Projcet_Documents/RES2020/ITALY_RES_Policy_Review_09_Final.pdf> accessed on 4 April 2014.

[9] European Commission, European Economy Occasional Papers, Member States’ Energy Dependence, An Indicator-Based Assessment, Brussels 2013, p. 137.

[10] National Energy Strategy, cited, p. 2.

For a complete list of the electricity and gas prices in the EU Member States, see: <http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php?title=File:Half-yearly_electricity_and_gas_prices.png&filetimestamp=20131106132508>

[11] Source: EnergyDelta Institute. <http://www.energydelta.org/mainmenu/energy-knowledge/country-gas-profiles/country-profile-italy#t42874> (revisited; accessed on

[12] Source: adapted from <http://www.eniscuola.net/en/energy/specials/the-energy-scenario-in-italy/> (accessed on 7 April 2014 – based on the National Energy Balance published by the Ministry of Economic Development).

[13] Source: European Environment Agency. See: <www.eea.europa.eu/publications/ghg-trends-and-projections.../italy.pdf>

[14] Ibid.

[15] Developed according to Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol, which states that: “greenhouse gas removals and emissions through certain activities — namely, afforestation and reforestation since 1990 — are accounted for in meeting the Kyoto Protocol’s emission targets”. See:< http://unfccc.int/methods/lulucf/items/3060.php> <http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf> accessed on 9 April 2014.

[16] See, for instance: <http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/targets_en.pdf> accessed on 8 April 2014. The renewable energy sources share is also set by the Directive 2009/28/EC itself (Annex I), available at: <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32009L0028&from=en> accessed on 19 March 2014.

[17] All figures are available at: <http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/themes/16_energy_and_ghg_targets.pdf> accessed on 8 April 2014.

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Details

Title
Climate change and the adoption of renewable energy sources. The case of Italy
College
University of Stirling  (School of Arts and Humanities - Division of Law and Philosophy)
Course
LLM International Energy Law and Policy
Grade
2A
Author
Year
2014
Pages
24
Catalog Number
V282684
ISBN (eBook)
9783656820932
ISBN (Book)
9783656820949
File size
704 KB
Language
English
Keywords
climate, italy
Quote paper
Roberto Cui (Author), 2014, Climate change and the adoption of renewable energy sources. The case of Italy, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/282684

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