Rome proposes plan to reduce its emissions

8 December 2009

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno and US academic Jeremy Rifkin have announced intentions to create a plan to make Rome a self sustaining city, according to the Financial Times.

The Mayor of the Italian capital reportedly intends to reveal his plan, which is likely to be based on a series of performance based contracts with energy companies, on 15 December at the Copenhagen climate conference.

Rifkin has acted as consultant for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several European regions regarding his proposals to combat climate change. Monaco and San Antonio, Texas, have both committed to his idea of a new carbon free ‘third industrial revolution’, which harnesses individual renewable energy units on a smart grid energy system.

Alemanno said he intends to spend 1.5 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product, although the city currently has €9bn of debt to handle.

Sicily has adopted €200m fund raising target to reduce carbon emissions in the region following collaboration with Rifkin, although the more ambitious targets created by the two parties have reportedly been abandoned due to political opposition.

Environmental infrastructure-focused asset management firm Foresight Group recently opened a new office in Palazzo Valadier, Piazza del Popolo in Rome.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: policy

This story was published on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Europe, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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