Towards an effective, efficient, and just energy transition / Verso una transizione energetica efficace, efficiente e giusta

Among growing environmental concerns and the urgent need for decarbonization, the global energy landscape is undergoing a deep transformation. This chapter delves into the central role of advanced technologies in accelerating the global shift toward sustainable energy systems. It begins with an overview of the current energy land¬scape, highlighting the challenges posed by fossil fuel dependence and the pressing need for decarbonization. The key enabling technologies, such as renewable energy sources, energy storage solutions, smart grids, and digitalization tools are also explored, em¬phasizing their potential to improve energy efficiency and reliability, and examining the integration of these technologies into existing infrastructure. Offering a compre¬hensive view, the chapter provides valuable insights into the future of energy systems and emphasizes the strategic importance of technological innovation in achieving global sustainability goals.

The purpose of this contribution is to describe how Italy faces the challenge of achieving resilient, carbon neutral and just communities. The focus is only on the financial and organizational aspects. It describes 9 initiatives that range from i) standard Euro¬pean, national and regional funded programmes; to ii) financial tools such as green and climate bonds, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti issuances, private sector issuances, green loans; to iii) public-private partnerships and energy performance contracting; to iv) citizen-led initiatives, energy communities, and energy poverty initiatives. Each ini¬tiative prioritises differen aspects of the challenge and operates at different spatial level. Some are more focus on efficiency, some on promoting renewable sources, some other at tacking social and equity issues.

Energy communities (ECs) have expanded rapidly across the European Union since the Second Renewable Energy Directive and the Internal Electricity Market Directive came into force. Although extensive research has assessed ECs’ local and member-level economic impacts, their systemic effects on electricity markets remain understudied. This chapter bridges that gap in two parts. First, an exhaustive literature review identifies eight EC business models and maps their divergent impacts on market actors: large fossil-fuel generators and traditional retailers often face competitive pressure, whereas distribution system operators and independent aggregators stand to benefit from scaled-up EC deployment. The effects on non-participating consumers are ambiguous, contingent upon market conditions and a business model of energy community. Second, we apply these findings to Italy’s pioneering EC policy framework, demonstrating its positive characteristics and drawbacks. We then introduce a novel application of Common Pool Resource theory to “shared energy,” revealing how collective governance can reconcile social objectives with financial viability avoiding the “tragedy of energy commons”. Finally, we offer actionable recommendations: selecting the most system-beneficial EC business models and empowering energy service companies as critical enablers of post-subsidy EC deployment.

Agriculture has long been central to human survival, providing food security and enabling the development of complex cultural and economic systems. However, in recent decades, it has also emerged as a major driver of environmental degradation, contributing significantly to biodiversity loss, climate change, and the transgression of planetary boundaries. This ecological crisis threatens not only ecosystems, but also the long-term viability of agriculture itself and broader social and economic stability. While agriculture is fundamentally rooted in biological processes that operate in synchrony with Earth’s natural cycles, the current economic model often incentivizes practices that undermine these systems rather than preserve them. This paper adopts a narrative integrative review approach to examine the multifaceted role of agriculture in climate mitigation, with a special focus in the EU. It explores carbon farming—soil-based carbon sequestration practices—as a potential path¬way to reconcile ecological integrity with economic viability. By integrating agri¬culture into the EU Emissions Trading System, carbon farming could generate new revenue streams aligned with ecosystem regeneration, positioning agriculture not as a climate problem, but as part of the solution. Ultimately, this review argues that addressing the challenges of modern agriculture requires a systems-thinking perspective—one that acknowledges its biological, economic, and socio-cultural di¬mensions—and informs the design of integrated policies and market mechanisms to support a just and regenerative transition.

The current transition towards renewable energy sources is a major structural change. There are many potential benefits such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, creating new jobs, reducing dependence on fossil fuel imports, and providing energy to underserved developing communities. However, there are also challenges: the need for large upfront investments, the extraction of natural resources, and the development of renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, the energy transition might lead to job losses and stranded assets. Workers might require retraining and upskilling. Some regions might be disproportionally hit. The aim of this book is to analyze the issues associated with energy transition, advocating the need for effectiveness, efficiency and justice.

Questo capitolo analizza la dinamica della povertà monetaria e non monetaria in Italia nel periodo 2014-2021. Utilizzando dati longitudinali dell’indagine EU-SILC, esaminiamo la mobilità del reddito e le dinamiche della deprivazione ma¬teriale in due periodi distinti — 2014-2017 e 2018-2021 — cogliendo gli effetti della ripresa economica, della crisi da COVID-19 e delle politiche correlate. L’a¬nalisi empirica a livello individuale si basa sull’utilizzo di curve di incidenza della crescita non anonime e di misure di deprivazione multidimensionale per valutare la mobilità lungo la distribuzione del reddito e della deprivazione. Le dinamiche aggregate sono analizzate attraverso un indice di povertà multidimensionale à la Alkire-Foster, che viene scomposto al fine di rivelare come le diverse dimensioni contribuiscano alle variazioni nella deprivazione complessiva. I risultati mostrano che, nel periodo 2018–2021 rispetto al 2014–2017, la mobilità di reddito è stata migliore in particolare per il 25% più povero, probabilmente anche grazie agli sforzi per la ripresa e i sostegni contro la povertà messi in campo dal governo italiano e dall’UE. Tuttavia, i miglioramenti delle condizioni materiali sono stati limitati e concentrati soprattutto tra la popolazione più intensamente deprivata. Alcune deprivazioni — come l’impossibilità di permettersi vacanze o beni domestici es¬senziali e di far fronte a spese impreviste — sono state persistenti a dispetto delle transizioni da e verso la povertà, indicando vulnerabilità strutturali.

This paper aims to explore, through the analysis of 153 scientific articles (1998-2023), how reverse logistics contributes to reducing food and packaging waste, decreasing green¬house gas emissions and improving agri-food supply chain efficiency. The research pays particular attention to reverse logistics’ role within a circular business model in a) re¬ducing food waste, and b) mitigating the system’s contribution to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The main subject areas related to reverse logistics, analyzed in the literature, include waste management, inventory optimization, pack¬aging management and the perishable nature of food products. The review highlights the growing importance of reverse logistics in reducing food waste, managing packag¬ing, and addressing the challenges related to the perishable nature of food products. The findings also highlight reverse logistics as a key tool for applying circular economy strat¬egies, pointing to challenges that require greater integration across the different food supply chains, collaboration between different economic agents of the agri-food system and stakeholders, and policy support. The study identifies key barriers such as inade¬quate infrastructure, high costs, and a lack of coordination among supply chain actors. In response, the literature suggests solutions including investments in cold chain systems, improved traceability, and supportive public policies.

La ricerca, indagando il processo di passaggio a un’economia sostenibile capace di garantire equità e diritti, approfondisce l’evoluzione delle forme di sfruttamento del lavoro che caratterizzano il sistema degli appalti, sviluppatosi dalla fine degli anni Ottanta del Novecento, nel Cantiere Navale di Monfalcone (Fincantieri). Per analizzare le radici del fenomeno e la sua evoluzione si ripercorre prima la storia dello stabilimento dal momento in cui inizia la specializzazione produttiva nel set¬tore delle navi da crociera e poi si descrivono le condizioni di lavoro nel subappalto in rapporto alle trasformazioni organizzative e produttive. I risultati dello studio mettono in evidenza come, sebbene gli strumenti utilizzati (la “paga globale” e la “liberatoria”) non siano cambiati nel tempo, la presenza di un numero crescente, e ormai maggioritario, di lavoratori immigrati, resi più ricattabili dalla distanza dal loro paese d’origine e dalla necessità di non perdere il permesso di lavoro, ha dato vita a forme di sfruttamento sempre più pesanti e differenziate, mettendo in crisi anche il tradizionale modello d’intervento sindacale.

Cycling offers numerous benefits, positively impacting cyclists’ health and having fewer harmful effects on the environment compared to most other forms of transport. However, adverse weather conditions can deter regular cycling. To mitigate these disadvantages, constructing a bicycle tube is a potential solution. We exemplify this with a planned bicycle tube in a Norwegian city known for harsh weather, discussing how it could promote cycling by reducing the negative impact of weather conditions. The number of cyclists is influenced by weather indicators such as temperature, wind, and precipitation, as well as variations between workdays and seasons. It is estimated that the construction of the bicycle tube would double the number of cyclists in the studied transport corridor due to improved weather protection. This increase would generate benefits related to travel time, health, and the environment. Additionally, the free-to-use bicycle tube could improve accessibility for people without access to a car, contributing to a just transition to sustainable transport. However, for the case studied, the benefits are not sufficient to cover the construction costs of the bicycle tube. Therefore, the project is not strictly profitable from a welfare perspective. Nonetheless, other non-monetary effects could be substantial for such a project.

This study examines Italy's electricity market dynamics by modeling and forecasting Italian hourly PUN (Prezzo Unico Nazionale) prices. Using about ten years of hour¬ly data, the analysis focuses on in-sample model selection by assessing the performance of different autoregressive models augmented with several combinations of dummy variables. By emphasizing the role of stationarity, we find the AR14 model with day-of-the-week dummies to provide the most satisfactory in-sample performance. On an out-of-sample basis, the AR7 model with an additional coefficient at lag 14 appears to be the best trade-off between model complexity and forecasting accuracy. This work's insights into the dynamics of the Italian electricity market and the rela-tive effectiveness of different forecasting models motivate future work investigating dynamical model selection and forecasting.

La transizione giusta è stata spesso invocata per affrontare sia la crisi climatica sia lo sradicamento della povertà e delle diseguaglianze. In questo contributo si vuole mostrare come questo concetto oramai travalica quello originario, sorto soprat¬tutto per opera di alcuni sindacati statunitensi negli anni ’70 del secolo passato, diventando un elemento chiave per il raggiungimento degli obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile individuati dalle Nazioni Unite e dall’accordo di Parigi. Dopo aver esa¬minato l’operato di alcuni sindacati nell’affermare l’interconnessione tra il destino dell’ambiente e quello dei lavoratori, si mette in luce il ruolo chiave svolto dalle imprese che non devono essere delle semplici esecutrici di normative ambientali o di parità di genere. La stretta collaborazione tra imprese, decisori politici e lavo¬ratori è fondamentale per garantire l’attuazione di strategie di transizione giusta che affrontino gli impatti sociali ed economici dovuti alla decarbonizzazione. A questo proposito viene discussa la metodologia proposta dalla organizzazione non profit World Benchmarking Alliance, che vuole monitorare e guidare il cambia¬mento nelle maggiori aziende a livello mondiale al fine di raggiungere gli obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile entro il 2030. Questo approccio valuta, da una parte, l’alli-neamento delle strategie aziendali alla realizzazione di processi produttivi a basse emissioni di carbonio e, dall’altra, diversi aspetti sociali quali la giustizia, i diritti umani, le condizioni di lavoro e l’equità. Vengono quindi esaminati i risultati del benchmark del settore dei mezzi di trasporto da cui risulta evidente che la transi-zione giusta nelle imprese private non sembra facilmente realizzabile senza un mix di regolamentazione e sostegno finanziario.

Urban buses provide an important contribution to decreasing the number of pri¬vate cars on the roads, reducing congestions and lowering air emissions. However, most of the circulating buses are still powered by internal combustion diesel en¬gines, whose environmental performance is much worse than that of alternative powertrains such as electric or hydrogen fuel cell buses. The chapter reviews the most recent studies aiming to provide answers to questions such as what is the eco¬nomic and environmental performance of different bus powertrains; what lesson can we learn from jointly considering the economic and environmental aspects; and what are the chances that the more environmentally friendly bus powertrains will prevail in the short and medium term. The main findings are that main advantage of fossil-fuel based buses are their much lower acquisition bus costs. Electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses require much higher initial costs not only for the bus acquisition but also for the charging\refuelling infrastructure. However, the initial capital disadvantage could be, under certain conditions, compensated by the lower annual operating cost, thus making them competitive in terms of to¬tal cost of ownership. There is a sufficiently large consensus that electric, hydrogen fuel cell buses and the biomethane-fuelled buses could reduce the environmental impact of bus operation relative to diesel counterpart along all environmental impact dimensions. According to some others authors, the monetarized environ mental benefits from alternative powertrains are sufficiently high to compensate for their higher monetary costs.

As the world becomes more urbanized, the challenges facing cities increase, making them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, to which the transport sector is a major contributor. Despite progress in making private vehicles more sustainable and efficient, a radical change in travel behavior remains essential. One of the most promising solutions is carpooling. The aim of this paper is to highlight the factors that favor the uptake of this form of mobility, including socio-economic characteristics and individual attitudes, and to describe the economic, social and environmental impacts of carpooling. It also analyses the barriers to its diffusion and the policies that support its uptake. Shared mobility, such as carpooling, has the potential to play a critical role in promoting social inclusion by offering affordable transportation options to under¬served communities and contributing to a just transition toward a more sustainable and equitable urban transport system.

This chapter presents the concept of Just Transition in the context of urban freight electrification. The study aims to assess the equality and fairness of access to electrifi¬cation technologies for urban freight transport across different countries and regions. To achieve this, a literature review was conducted. The results reveal significant geo¬graphical disparities in access to urban freight electrification technologies, with a no¬table concentration of research and implementation in developed Western countries. Furthermore, the study identifies barriers that may limit vulnerable groups from accessing these technologies. The chapter concludes by proposing necessary policy mea¬sures to ensure a fair and equitable transition for all stakeholders involved

Supply chain sustainability is still a subject of debate. Some researchers believe that it is based on reducing the distances food travels, while others believe that it also relates to other aspects such as production locations, processes, product types, seasonality, direct sales, regional and local transport, and customer preference for local products and carbon labels. In this review, 119 papers address the concepts of food miles (FM) and local food (LF) with the aim of summarising whether the type of product and produc¬tion process, seasonality, supply chain organisation and consumer preferences affect the environmental footprint of the agri-food chain. The results show that the environmental impact of the food supply chain (FSC) is in¬fluenced by many factors beyond distance travelled, such as energy-intensive produc¬tion processes, the technology used in production methods, crops and soil characteristics, harvesting time, storage time, the number of intermediaries and consumer choices. Therefore, the sustainability of the FSC relies on a combination of factors rather than just the reduction of FM. Researchers studying the sustainability of the food chain and companies committed to greening the agri-food sector may find our work useful. Finally, it provides recom¬mendations for local authorities interested in developing policies for the distribution of goods and in guiding the logistics sector and the FSC as a whole towards practices that reduce the impact of climate change.