The Legambiente and CNR-IIA dossier presented at the international conference in Capri. The environmental performance of 27 small inhabited islands and an analysis of the PNRR funds are at the center allocated for the "Green Islands" projects. The growth of separate waste collection is improving, while that of renewables is too slow. Sustainable mobility, purification and water sector stalled.
The challenge of environmental sustainability also passes from small islands that want to renew themselves and improve, trying to overcome critical issues and delays. To speak clearly are the data collected in the new report "Sustainable islands 2022 " made by Legambiente e by the Institute on Atmospheric Pollution of the National Research Council (CNR-IIA) - with the contribution of Terna - analyzing various sector studies: in Italy in the 27 smaller islands you live cresce overall the collection which records an overall average of 47,33%. The island of Sant'Antioco (made up of the homonymous municipality and the municipality of Calasetta, in Sardinia) is the most virtuous with 82% of RD, followed by the Egadi Islands which have reached 75% of RD. Excellent percentages also for Pantelleria (TP) with 73% and San Pietro (SU) with 72,6%. Too slow in the islands monitored there diffusion of renewables. Overly rigid landscape constraints, complex connection requests, intricate and often obsolete authorization procedures are just some of the non-technological barriers that prevent the implementation of adequate energy transition action in these territories. In stalled sustainable mobility, purification, and the water sector.
An important novelty comes from the funding provided by the PNRR and other resources (incentives for renewables, resources from the landings contribution, regional contributions). In particular, the PNRR has represented in the last year the most interesting opportunity for the smaller Italian islands: allocated, thanks to the “Green Islands” Program, 200 million euros destined to finance integrated actions to make them more autonomous and “green”. The response from the islands was good: 140 sustainable development projects presented, by the deadline of 22 April 2022, by 13 Municipalities of the 19 smaller islands in response to the PNRR “Green Islands” call. The administrations ofIsola del Giglio (GR), Capraia (LI), Ponza (LT), Ventotene (VT), the Tremiti Islands (FG), Ustica (PA) and Pantelleria (TP), the three municipalities of the Island of Salina (ME) , Favignana (TP), Lampedusa and Lipari (AG) have already requested funding for interventions concerning the renewable energy, the construction of desalinators, the efficiency of the water network, sustainable mobility, energy efficiency and the management of the urban waste cycle, as evidence that there is a desire to play and contribute to the ecological transition of the country.
To give strength to ambitious interventions in the environmental and climate field in the Italian smaller islands, Legambiente and CNR-IIA today launch two proposals: 1) creation at the Ministry of Ecological Transition of a control room for the climate and environmental transition in the smaller islands, which defines the interventions and above all the objectives concerning energy, waste, water, mobility, sustainable tourism and carries out an activity to support the action of the Municipalities. 2) The elaboration for each island of a Plan for climate and environmental sustainability with clear objectives for 2030. In all this, the dialogue, cohesion and collaboration between local and national authorities, and involvement of citizens in decisions.
The report Sustainable islands 2022, created in the context of the homonymous Observatory (www.isolesostenibili.it), was presented today in Capri at the Paradiso Congress Center in Anacapri, during the two-day international conference "The sustainability of the smaller islands and tourism in the Italian coastal areas”Which enjoys the patronage of the Municipalities of Anacapri and Capri and of Terna as sponsor. The event, which will continue tomorrow with the presentation at 11.30 am of the guide The most beautiful sea and the assignment of the five sails, saw sector experts and local administrations confront each other on the subject. The report, in addition to taking stock of the Italian islands, also maintains an international outlook. Among the associations with which the observatory collaborates are Dafni Network (Greece), Island Movement (Croatia), Smilo (France) and the company Any Solution (Spain). world.
“The smaller Italian islands - he declares Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente - they can transform today from models that are very often inefficient, because they depend on exchanges of energy and matter with the mainland, to innovative models in the adoption of sustainable systems for the supply of clean energy and in water management, for recovery and recycling of waste and for zero-emission mobility. Because the climate transition that we urgently need to stop the growth of the planet's temperature can tie together the objectives of a 100% clean energy model, centered on renewable sources, with that of a virtuous management of the water and materials cycle. capable of bringing positive innovations in agriculture, construction, in the various activities that take place on the islands ".
“The small islands of the Mediterranean - he adds Francesco Petracchini, Director of the CNR IIA - are increasingly exposed to the effects of climate change and therefore vulnerable. For this reason, we believe it is important that interventions aimed at climate mitigation be accelerated today and it is useful to take stock, through the report, on the state of the art with respect to the ecological transition path initiated in the small islands. There is still a lot of work ”.
Energy: It grows the installation of solar photovoltaics, in particular in the non-interconnected islands thanks to the incentives introduced by the MISE. I'm 531 kW installed overall since 2018 in these 20 islands thanks to the provision, in addition to the 2.700 already installed. Unfortunately, the delays accumulated in the enactment of the implementing measures have led to the failure of the objectives set by the provision as at 31 December 2020, which was to achieve a total installation of 11.820 kW (and 13.850 MW of solar thermal). The largest photovoltaic installations are located in interconnected islands, namely Ischia, the Island of Elba and Sant'Antioco (approximately 4.000, 3.700 and 2.000 kW respectively). Among the non-interconnected islands, Pantelleria is the island with the largest photovoltaic installations, 840 kW, followed by Lampedusa and Linosa, 605 kW, the Aeolian Islands (municipality of Lipari), 509 kW, and Ustica, 433 kW. Good news from the island of Salina where there is the greatest percentage increase in photovoltaic installations from 2020 to 2021 (it has gone from 22 to 104 kW). To date the photovoltaic is present in all the islands although in some cases with very low numbers, such as the Tremiti Islands (18,4 kW) and Giglio (34,7 kW).
Il micro-wind is present only at Pantelleria, Sant'Antioco and Ventotene, with installed values of 32 kW, 55 kW and 3.16 kW, respectively (numbers unchanged compared to 2020). reached 12% (compared to not even 2% in 2019), followed by the Pelagie Islands with 6,22% (compared to not even 1% in 2019) and Ventotene with 5%. The other islands do not reach 5% and the lowest values are found on the island of Giglio and the Tremiti islands (percentage value below one).
Finally, of the 27 inhabited islands analyzed, 20 are always not interconnected to the national electricity grid (Pelagie Islands, Egadi Islands, Tremiti Islands, Aeolian Islands, Ponza, Ventotene, Ustica, Capraia, Isola del Giglio, Gorgona).
Waste sorting: Overall, the ability to separate waste continues to grow on the islands, between 2019 and 2020, also compared to the growth already recorded in 2019. According to the latest Ispra data, the Egadi islands have increased from 38% to 75%, San Pietro from 56% to 72,6%, Ventotene from 18% to 24%, the island of Giglio from 24% to 31%, the Tremiti islands from 38% to 55%. The most important deterioration is instead recorded in the Pelagie Islands, which went from 38% to 11%. However, there are some virtuous actions: as many as 18 analyzed islands have now adopted plastic free policies.
Stalls and delays chronic: Purification and the water sector remain the weakest sectors for the smaller inhabited islands. As far as the water sector is concerned, desalination systems, present however only in one third of the islands, are often insufficient and obsolete and the water supply must be guaranteed by tankers coming from the mainland. New projects are often blocked by appeals to the Regional Administrative Court or by mutual opposition between different administrative levels. In particular, the losses of the water network are on the national average, but in some islands they are well over 60%. Regarding the mobility of some island municipalities, the motorization rate is almost equal to one car per capita, such as in Lampedusa and Linosa (0,9 vehicles / inhabitant) and Pantelleria (0,9 v / inhabitant), the latter an increase compared to the figure - n 0,8 av / inhabitant - of last year's report. The most virtuous island in this is Capri, where the motorization rate is 0,3 v / ab, significantly lower than the other islands. The oldest car fleet is confirmed on the Pelagie Islands (55%) and the Tremiti Islands (52%) despite having decreased by a few percentage points compared to the 2021 ratio. Despite this, it should be noted that many islands have started projects to equip themselves with electric vehicles .
PNRR: In the report, Legambiente and CNR-IIA analyze how the islands are responding. Among the examples cited are those of the Island of Pantelleria which has chosen to use the funds to complete some works already on site by intervening on the water distribution network to reduce water losses, to electrify public transport (with the purchase of two electric buses) and all school transport ( school bus), to make even the remaining 10% of obsolete lighting fixtures efficient and to invest in the stability and efficiency of the electricity network, thanks to storage systems calibrated to the needs of the island.
Lampedusa e Linosa presented interventions for a total of 41,3 million Euros, equal to the entire amount allocated to them, and concern the purchase of electric buses, incentives for the purchase of ecological vehicles and scooters, charging stations installed on the island , drinking water distributors to reduce the use of PET bottles, new desalinators, incentives for photovoltaic systems, the modernization and expansion of the energy distribution network, the construction of a wind power plant. Among the objectives is that of reaching 26% of electricity from renewable sources for Lampedusa, and over 37% in Linosa.
The City of Ponza structured the funding into four project files concerning energy efficiency, the management of the urban waste cycle, the circular economy and the production of energy from renewable sources for a total of € 14.503,100,00. The Island of Capraia presented several projects in the various areas to be financed with all the 3.350.000,00 Euros made available by the tender.