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Monthly Newsletter edited by Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network
Civic Activism | Patients' Rights | Consumers' Rights | Support ACN
Year 8th, number 83 - September 2020

SPECIAL EDITION ON CONSUMERS AND ENERGY ISSUES

 

Highlight

The role of citizens in achieving a low-carbon future
It is not only energy sources which need to become more ‘renewable’, but consumers’ behaviors and choices, too, if we are to ultimately achieve Objective 7 of the UN’s Agenda 2030, which is aimed at ‘ensuring access to economic, reliable, sustainable and modern energy systems for all.’ To this end, the role played by all market actors remains crucial, from the political class that defines the rules, to the authorities responsible for implementing them, to the operators who not only have to respect these rules but also offer virtuous and competitive competition, with full respect for consumers.
To read the entire article, in which the Director of Active Citizenship Network and the Responsible of the Energy Sector of Cittadinanzattiva discuss how citizens’ behavior can play a crucial role in energy efficiency and thus a low-carbon, climate resilient future, and which was published in September by The Innovation Platform, please click here.

Focus

Official launch of the H2020 EU Project on Energy
In line with its commitment to energy policies at national and European level, and in an effort to improve energy efficiency through consumers’ energy friendly behaviors, Cittadinanzattiva - through its EU branch  Active Citizenship Network - is actively participating to the NUDGE Project, whose objective is to systematically assess and fully unleash the potential of behavioral interventions towards achieving higher energy efficiency, paving the way to the generalized use of such interventions as a worthy addition to the policy-making toolbox.
The NUDGE project is funded by the EU’s funding programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020. More specifically, the project addresses EASME’s call LC-SC3-EC-4-2020 on “Socio-economic research: non- energy impacts and behavioral insights on energy efficiency interventions” and specifically scope (b) - Behavioral insights for energy efficiency interventions.
The project, which has a planned duration of 36 months, is carried out by a multidisciplinary team of 10 partners and trials take place in 5 different EU countries. Taking into consideration the Italian situation with regard to matters concerning renewable energies and also given the EU’s position on the importance of energy efficiency, Cittadinanzattiva decided to join the NUDGE consortium as the only Italian participant.
Through NUDGE, Cittadinanzattiva aims to contribute to achieve the adoption of behaviorally tested policy interventions at local, regional, national, and EU levels.
For more information, please click here


The project NUDGE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 957012.


16/17/18 September 2020, NUDGE Virtual kick off meeting

To know more about Cittadinanzattiva’s commitment on energy at national and European level, please visit this webpage.

News
Consumers' Rights

Local Public Transport: Cittadinanzattiva’s information campaign
In occasion of the 2020 European Mobility Week, Cittadinanzattiva has launched an information campaign raising citizens’ awareness of local public transport. The campaign aims at improving citizens’ knowledge of the local public transport services available in their cities and regions, as well as to inform them about the rights and duties of each passenger and of the possibility of reporting service inefficiencies. The inititative is part of the italian “Più sai, più sei” project.
To download “5 consigli per muoversi in città” (“Five suggestions to move across the city”), which is the small guide on local public transport realized by Cittadinanzattiva, click here (IT Language).

Local Public Transport in Italy: rising costs for monthly and annual subscriptions
Always in occasion of the 2020 European Mobility Week, and in accordance with the information campaign above mentioned, Cittadinanzattiva has also carried out an investigation on the prices of local public transport throughout Italy. Indeed, Cittadinanzattiva’s Observatory Prices and Tariffs has released data concerning the price of local public transport. In particular, the investigation reported that in the last 15 years there was a remarkable increase in the rates of both the monthly and annual subscriptions for local public transport. Overall, in Italy in the last 15 years the cost of the monthly pass for local public transport has grown on average by 22% while the cost of the annual pass of about 18%.
For further information, plese click here

To read about our commitment as associated partner of the European Mobility Week, click here.

Italy: civic consultation on the importance of water for environmental sustainability
On the Occasion of the World Environment Day (June 5, 2020), Cittadinanzattiva reported during a webinar the results of its civic consultation on the perceptions and habits of citizens with concerns to the use of water resources and services. The consultation revealed citizens’ lack of confidence in the quality of tap water and water controls and the consequent high consumption of water in plastic bottles, the lack of universal access to drinking water, and a very limited awareness of citizens of their consumption and waste of water. Additionally, the webinar presented the most perceived risks linked to climate change, namely the risks of drought and desertification, rising sea levels, and other dangerous meteorological phenomena. Since water represent the main asset to fight pandemics and climate change, the rational use of water resources was identified to be pivotal to achieve environmental sustainability and the sustainable development goals of the UN Agenda 2030. Therefore, it is necessary to raise awareness and civic participation with concerns to water issues. This initiative is part of the project "Le città e la gestione sostenibile dell'acqua e delle risorse naturali" ("Cities and the sustainable use of water and natural resources"), funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and coordinated by CEVI.
For further information, please click here

Integrated water service in Italy: Rising rates throughout the country
Last March, in occasion of the World Water Day 2020, Cittadinanzattiva’s Observatory Prices and Tariffs has reported a remarkable increase in water rates throughout the country. Indeed, the observation revealed that in 2019 the amount spent by an average family for the water bill has increased by 2% compared to 2018. The highest rates of water services can be found in central Italy (+2.7%); yet, the greatest increase is found in the South and in the Islands (+ 3.1%).
For further information on the integrated water service, please click here

Acqua bene comune (“Water common good”): Cittadinanzattiva’s information campaign
Always in occasion of the World Water Day 2020, Cittadinanzattiva has launched in Italy an information campaign aimed at raising citizens’ awareness of water as a common good. Indeed, water is a source of life and, as such, it is everyone’s wealth and right. The initiative is part of the italian “Più sai, più sei” project.
To download the guide “5 consigli per l’uso consapevole dell’acqua” (“Five suggestions for the responsible consumption of water”)  realized by Cittadinanzattiva, click here (IT Language).

Designing plants for our future: an update about the CropBooster-P Project
The interlinked challenges of population growth, climate change and shifting diets have put the future of food and farming firmly in the spotlight. The CropBooster-P H2020 project aims to develop a roadmap to future-proof European crops for these challenges – to do so, it is employing a stakeholder-focused approach to determine the impacts of various strategies for crop improvement.
In the first year of the project, the current scientific state-of-the-art to improve our crops was captured by creating a database of over 800 recent keystone publications. These publications focus on 3 main themes: Increasing crop yield, increasing nutritional quality and protection against abiotic stress (heat, drought, salt, etc.).
From these publications, 15 main options were developed that could be followed to breed for better crop varieties. Examples of such options are improving water use efficiency, optimising plant photosynthesis and increasing vitamin content.
In a next step, the potential impact of executing these options in society was discussed in a series of workshops with 3 groups of stakeholders; farmers, consumers and industry. The scientific options to improve our crops, and the stakeholders’ opinions on the effects on society, will be used to draft the Roadmap for the European Commission in the last year of the project.
In the framework of the European project CropBooster-P, Cittadinanzattiva - through its EU branch Active Citizenship Network - is involved as a member of the stakeholder group and currently engaged in the development of an outreach strategy that should guide and facilitate a targeted communication about novel plant breeding technologies with relevant stakeholder groups in the frame of future EU-funded projects.
For further information, please click here.

Events

30 September 2020: Webinar “Energy efficiency and fight against waste: how to become informed citizens”
On September 30, 2020, Cittadinanzattiva and Sinergie will co-host an open webinar on the Facebook page of Cittadinanzattiva from 17.30 to 19.00. The webinar is entitled Efficienza energetica e lotta allo spreco: come diventare cittadini consapevoli (“Energy efficiency and fight against waste: how to become informed citizens) and will present some best practices that every citizen can adopt to save energy, reduce waste, and safeguard the environment. The main areas of debate will discuss responsible consumption, the reduction of consumption and reuse / recycling, and new models of sustainable production.
The event has been accredited as part of Asvis’ Festival of Sustainable Development that will take place in the week from September 22 to October 8.
The webinar will also be an opportunity to present the projects Act4eco (European project of Sinergie) and Generazione SpreK.O. (Generation Spreko), the new Italian project of Cittadinanzattiva, funded by the Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali - Direzione Generale del Terzo settore e della responsabilità sociale delle imprese.
For more information, please contact: ricerca@sinergie-italia.com

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16 October 2020: Webinar “Free from Plastic”
In occasion of the European Green Week, on October 16, 2020, Cittadinanzattiva will take part to the Webinar "Free from Plastic - Focus on Good Practices" (Liberi Dalla Plastica), hosted by Europe Direct Roma Innovazione. The webinar is one of the events of the EU Green week 2020 and is intended to be a follow up of the previous event organized in 2019 by Europe Direct Roma Innovazione, which aimed to illustrate the important innovations introduced by the directive 2019/904 on single use plastic, raise awareness of the phenomenon, and support the promotion of more responsible behaviors among both consumers and enterprises. This follow-up focuses on the presentation of good practices (both Italian and European) with regards to recycling and limiting the use of plastic and investigates the impetus of the European Union to a circular economy and a reduced impact of plastic on the environment.
For more information about the description and agenda of the event, please click here

9th and 10th November 2020: “International Product Safety Week 2020” - Online format
Cittadinanzattiva – Active Citizenship Network has been invited to the International Product Safety Week 2020, which will occur online. The program includes two days of public discussions on the 9th and 10th November 2020, as well as a workshop on the fundamentals of product safety organised with UNCTAD on Novemebr 12th for regulators. Like in the past, the International Product Safety Week will host the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organisation (ICPHSO) online symposium, which will take place on the 27th and 28th of October.
To receive further information, please check the dedicated webpage of the European Commission events' calendar.

19th and 20th November 2020: 12th Citizens' Energy Forum - Online format
As anticipate in the website of the Council of European Energy Regulator (CEER), the annual appointment of the Citizens’ Energy Forum, which was originally planned in September, will be celebrate in online format in November.
In line with its engagement on the topic, Cittadinanzattiva – Active Citizenship Network has been invited to the last four editions by the EU Commission DG ENER and DG JUST.

 


Director and Editor in chief: Mariano Votta
Editors: Daniela Quaggia, Manuela Amadori, Giulia Decarolis and Maira Cardillo
Coordination and Production: Giacomo D'Orazio 

To contribute, plase write to: mail@activecitizenship.net
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