The Reporting of Sustainable Energy Action Plans of Municipalities: Methodology and Results of Case Studies from the Abruzzo Region

Abstract

Territorial energetic and environmental planning provides operational solidity to the concept of sustainable development, in particular in energy-related issues, where recent attention to and social awareness of climate change are driving actions and policies at local and international levels. The goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030 can be reached through the strategy of glocalization, giving more responsibility to local administrations like municipalities. In this work, a scientific methodology is developed and validated to revise Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP) and the monitoring phase of municipalities. The methodology starts from measured data in the territory considered and makes use of specific statistical models in order to estimate the needed data. The methodology considers the energy consumption of the main sectors: residential, transportation, tertiary, and commercial, with a particular focus on municipal competences (public lighting, urban transport, municipal fleet, etc.). Renewable energy is also considered due to its importance in local energy production. In order to go deeper into SEAPs, in this paper, the authors describe the quantitative analysis of the Baseline Emission Inventory, the quantification of the SEAP planning actions, and the definition of the Monitoring Emission Inventory, which is the final step of the planning process. This step was done for nine municipalities of the Abruzzo region with different characteristics (size, population, climate, geographical position, economy, etc.) in order to widen the results of the analysis and test the robustness of the methodology. Indeed, it gave a quantitative dimension to the primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions for 2018, compared with the 2005 baseline values, and the final results are related to the reduction commitments planned for 2020. All the municipalities were considered to have achieved this goal, surpassing the 20% emissions reduction. This validated methodology is also the basis for the development of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs), which integrate adaptation actions and mitigation ones.