Padua - Greening measures and planting initiatives are key priorities to contribute to the Adaptation Plan on Sustainable Energy and Climate
The City of Padua, a member of the Covenant of Mayors Europe and engaged in the EU Mission NetZero Cities and the European Climate Pact in 2022, is among cities with ambitious climate targets to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. This was defined as part of its partnership with Veneto ADAPT funded by the European LIFE program to develop an approach to improve regional responses to climate change.
These responses included the establishment of common knowledge and inventory on climate change impacts, risks and vulnerabilities, the development of adaptation measures and the monitoring of adaptation actions.
As a concrete result of the Veneto ADAPT project, the SECAP – Action Plan for Sustainable Energy and Climate was put in place to include the promotion of renewable energy use, the increase of energy efficiency in public and private buildings, the reduction of energy consumption, better management of waste, promotion of sustainable mobility and more green areas and parks in the city.
"One hundred cities - with nine in Italy, including Padua - have been selected at the end of April [2022] by the European Commission to become climate pioneer cities, and reach climate neutrality by 2030. The cities were chosen on the basis of their work and actions in the field of mobility, energy efficiency and urban planning. Padua is taking another step forward to position itself as a centre of experimentation and innovation, to further develop the projects to reduce climate-changing emissions that we have already carried out in recent years, such as the SECAP, the Green Plan, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, the Zero Land Use Urban Plan, the One Stop Shop, etc. Renewable energy, energy communities, decarbonisation, energy refurbishment, public spaces and green infrastructure, and circular economy are some of the watchwords that will further characterise our action in the coming years." Andrea Ragona, Councillor for environment, town planning and mobility of the Municipality of Padua.
Major risks that the City disclosed to CDP-ICLEI Track referred to extreme heat and heavy precipitations. To guarantee heat reduction and water retention the plan included an increase in the number of green areas and parks in the city, and specific greening measures and planting initiatives have been taken. Some of the actions are:
- improving the health of the tree stock.
- increasing the number of planted trees from currently 1.8% to 5%, through forecasting an approximate increase of 8,500 trees by 2030 over 7 hectares of newly built urban green areas.
- ensuring that at least 20% of plants adapt to climate change.
- raising citizens' awareness of the value of trees and greenery by involving them in their conservation.
The 'Parco del Basso Isonzo’ is a pilot project within the Veneto ADAPT. It is a park that constitutes one of the main green belts in Padua aiming originally to form a peri-urban green belt made of a series of public parks, agricultural areas, gardens, and green corridors, and including the building of bicycle and pedestrian paths. The restoration of the landscape is carried out with nature-based solutions.
Tree planting has been carried out through another initiative the Padova O2 in which citizens and businesses have the opportunity to support the creation of new urban forests by selecting trees from a list using the 'Adopt a Tree' option on the wow Nature website.
Through such initiatives as part of Padua's Action Plan for Sustainable Energy and Climate, the city pledges to reduce emissions to net zero by 2030, and to work on identifying its own climate change adaptation actions.
CDP-ICLEI Track 2022: https://data.cdp.net/
EU Mission NetZero Cities: https://netzerocities.eu/mission-cities/
European Climate Pact: https://climate-pact.europa.eu/index_en
Covenant of Mayors Europe: https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/region/european-union-and-western-europe/
LIFE Program: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/programmes/life_en
Veneto ADAPT: https://www.venetoadapt.it/
https://www.padovanet.it/informazione/progetto-veneto-adapt#24146
PAESC – Action Plan for Sustainable Energy and Climate: https://www.padovanet.it/sites/default/files/attachment/PAESC.pdf
Padova 02: https://www.padovanet.it/informazione/progetto-di-riforestazione-urbana-padova-o2
Wow Nature: https://www.wownature.eu/