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The green and low carbon economies are paradigms gaining momentum in the current international policy context, and it is important not to slow their pace. The EU leadership in proposing ambitious climate policy mitigation targets envisages an economy that must rely on clean and low carbon energy sources. Within this context, many EU and non EU countries, including Italy, have embarked in a coordinated effort to analyze the implications of a low carbon economy. To address the implications of deep decarbonization, the project examines alternative pathways that could reduce Italian CO2 emissions by at least 40% in 2030 and 80% in 2050, compared to 1990.

The green and low carbon economies are paradigms gaining momentum in the current international policy context, and it is important not to slow their pace. The EU leadership in proposing ambitious climate policy mitigation targets envisages an economy that must rely on clean and low carbon energy sources. Within this context, many EU and non EU countries, including Italy, have embarked in a coordinated effort to analyze the implications of a low carbon economy. To address the implications of deep decarbonization, the project examines alternative pathways that could reduce Italian CO2 emissions by at least 40% in 2030 and 80% in 2050, compared to 1990.
Many are the challenges the Italian energy system needs to address in order to supply energy from clean and renewable sources. The ability to successfully address those challenges also relies on future technological change and innovations that will be developed not only nationally, but also at the international level.

The project examines the following issues:

  • Identification of key challenges and uncertainties to be addressed in order to foster a deep decarbonization process in Italy.
  • Analysis of the impacts of deep decarbonization on the energy system, the economy, and society.
  • Assessment of the availability of technology options to achieve a low carbon economy, considering the role of international technology cooperation as well.
  • Assessment of the policy support needed to achieve the efforts for deep decarbonization.

In the first stage of the project alternative decarbonization scenarios have been produced by combining insights from a very detailed bottom-up energy system model (TIMES-Italy), with two top-down Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models (ICES and GDyn-E). TIMES-Italy (ENEA) provides insights on the transformation required by the Italian energy system, while ICES (FEEM) and GDyn-E (ENEA) make it possible to study the macroeconomic implications of such transformation.

The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) is a global collaboration of research teams to analyse pathways to deeply reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their own countries. The project is an initiative of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), aiming to demonstrate how countries can transform their energy systems by 2050 in order to achieve a low-carbon economy and significantly reduce the global risk of catastrophic climate change. The project currently comprises 16 Country Research Teams, composed of leading research institutions from countries representing about 70% of global GHG emissions and at very different stages of development. These 16 countries are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.