With the “South Tyrol Climate Plan 2040”, adopted in July 2023, the Provincial Government set itself the ambitious goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2040. The plan, an integral part of the sustainability strategy “Everyday for Future”, is a dynamic instrument in which the local government envisaged that citizenship could also offer proactive support in the planning of a forward-looking local climate policy.
Indeed, considering the success of the plan strongly depending on the involvement of society, a participatory process was planned, and to this end two co-determination bodies were established: the “Climate Citizen Assembly”, made up of a representative sample of 50 South Tyrolean citizens, and the “Stakeholder Forum for Climate” consisting of 75 members from organizations and interest groups representing the trade union and the cultural, social, environmental and business sectors. In recent months both formats have been called upon to discuss different positions and interests and to formulate recommendations, additions and suggestions for the future strategy of the South Tyrol Climate Plan 2040. The participants met between January and June 2024 to discuss the measures listed in the plan in the field of the macro-themes of mobility, housing, energy, consumption and production, food and land use together with the cross-cutting themes of communication and awareness and social justice.
Assessments and proposals elaborated by the two working groups will be presented to the Province Government in September and then to the Province Council. In autumn, the provincial administration will examine the recommendations for their technical and legal feasibility and subsequently prepare a decision-making basis for the executive.
This participatory process, that represents a novelty for South Tyrol, required complex organizational work and could not be carried out without adequate informative support. To this end, it was accompanied and supported by a team of experts who were available to provide reliable background information in the relevant subject areas throughout the entire process. In this context, the South Tyrol Alliance for Research in Sustainability played a primary role: alongside representatives of public bodies and the provincial administration, the specialists of the consultive board derived from Alliance’s partner institutions. This pool of professionals first provided a knowledge base for the participants of the two formats and then in the following months continued to offer their expertise by responding to the participants’ questions and wishes for more in-depth information. This required commendable commitment from the experts who at the same time conserved a neutral position with respect to the considerations developed by the parties.
The role of the South Tyrol Alliance for Research in Sustainability, however, does not end there: the Climate Plan provides for a cyclical plan-do-check-act approach. The check item consists of a periodic assessment of the sense and efficiency of the measures implemented and this analysis will be coordinated and drafted by the Alliance, which, in addition to a summary on implementation, could also propose corrective actions in line with the latest scientific discoveries, thus allowing the plan to update and adapt dynamically from time to time in order to optimize its implementation for the benefit of all.