Achieving the ambitious 2020 targets in greenhouse gases’ emissions reduction is a challenging task for industrialized economies and requires a coordinated action. A pivotal role is given to local administrations, that are called to drive the conversion of the energy sector towards low carbon...

This paper outlines the results a multi-criteria evaluation study applied to the integrated assessment of flood protection options in Northern Italy. The study aims at comparing advantages and disadvantage of a more traditional approach based on hard infrastructure calibrated on the event with a...

The EU climate and energy policy for 2020 is summed up by three goals called 20-20-20: a) reduce GHG emissions by 20% compared to 1990; b) save 20% of the EU’s energy consumption compared to projections for 2020; c) develop a 20% share of renewable energies in overall EU energy consumption by 2020. In...

Indicators are useful working tools for the plans to monitor their progress as well as to check ex-post the results achieved. There is a large corpus of indicators, both at European and national Italian levels which designers and planners can refer to. However, it is worth verifying the...

This paper examines the European Commission’s review published November 2012 of progress towards competitive energy markets. It examines four aspects of the markets: Wholesale energy markets; Retail energy markets; Corporate structure; Impact of smart meters on competition. It also reviews the...

WEEE (waste from electrical and electronic equipment, known also as e-waste) is the fastest growing category of waste with 50 million tons generated worldwide each year and it increases at a rate of 3-5% per year (Onyenekenwa et al., 2011). In Europe e-waste issue has been tacked with a specific...

This commentary discusses the opinion piece published on 1 June 2014 by Professor Robert Stavins in The New York Times. Professor Robert Stavins argues that "The Only Feasible Way of Cutting Emissions" is to set up a market for tradable permits. We review and criticize his mains arguments. Our...