(Minister Giovannini with Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD)
April 28th, 2022 – During the OECD Council session dedicated to “The People-Centered Green Transition,” the Italian Minister of Sustainable Infrastructures and Mobility (Mims), Enrico Giovannini, has illustrated the Ministry’s strategy: investing in infrastructures and sustainable mobility to accelerate the path toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda, also through the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (NPRR) and other national and European funds, which will allow for unprecedented measures to improve the quality of life of people and the competitiveness of businesses while respecting the environment.
During his speech, the Minister described the new vision of the Ministry, in accordance with Italy’s international and European commitments on the just ecological and digital transition and on the shared objective of reducing inequalities, including territorial ones. Such a strategy aims to renewing public buildings, rethinking ecologically urban mobility systems also through the purchase of non-polluting vehicles, improving railway connections with ports and airports, accelerating and encouraging the decarbonization of transport, creating better rail and road connections between the territories, reducing the infrastructural gap between the North and the South of the country and the internal areas.
"The pandemic crisis and the dramatic war in Ukraine cause great humanitarian, social, and economic uncertainties that must lead us to change the paradigm and accelerate towards sustainable development," the Minister stated. "The European Union is leading the way, and it has never been more crucial to pursue decarbonization programs, aiming for greater energy diversification and a rapid transition to renewable sources. The funds at our disposal for the next ten years, which for the Ministry amount to approximately 104 billion euros – Giovannini specified - urge us to plan investments following a synergistic and integrated logic, carefully evaluating the impact of the interventions on people and territories. The green transition is an opportunity to rethink how to build infrastructures and to design sustainable mobility systems", added the Minister, referring to the recent innovations introduced with the revision of the processes for the design and construction of sustainable public works, listening to the needs of communities, involving civil society in the decision-making process, and offering the private sector new business opportunities.
"Thanks to the reforms introduced since last year, including the one deriving from Prime Minister Draghi’s Directive on the functioning of the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development, which must evaluate public investments according to criteria in line with the 2030 Agenda Goals, unsustainable works will no longer be financed", concluded the Minister. “During 2021, the Ministry developed a set of criteria to direct investments towards infrastructural and mobility interventions based on the new rules. The road is still long, but there is no turning back: the quality of life of people, social well-being, and the quality of the environment are at the heart of our policies, and sustainable development is the only model that can be pursued"
Guidelines for Technical and economic feasibility project
Public works: a new approach in planning and evaluating public investment
The NRRP for the Mims (slides)
The People centred green transition (slides)