The overall objective of NZD is to demonstrate and promote the potential for innovation in energy and water management in manufacturing districts to achieve co-benefits and strengthen competitiveness while reducing natural resource consumption through efficient and effective district management focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. The project identifies five specific objectives:
- Stimulate symbiosis of resources and services, district-wide, enabling system conditions for better energy and water management
- Accelerating the transition to more sustainable production districts.
- Strengthen and further increase the involvement of city stakeholders Mission.
- Facilitating scalability and sustainability of network services in districts.
- Implement guidelines for an energy management system according to international standards, at the district level, validated by a nationally recognized Italian certification body.
The main focus on energy resources in manufacturing districts is to provide practical solutions through an innovative and integrated approach to energy efficiency and renewable energy production at the district level. This approach aims to overcome current fragmented and less effective methods by guiding districts toward climate neutrality. Similarly, the main focus on water resources in manufacturing districts is to mitigate the challenges companies face in managing water during floods and droughts by supporting the development of innovative and integrated approaches that emphasize district-level water recovery, purification, and reuse.
What Rome does through the project
Roma Capitale is a partner in the project along with the cities of Bergamo, Parma and Prato (lead city) with whom it has already worked in the pilot project Let’sGOv and shared the process of drafting and implementing the Climate City Contract. The idea of working together on more sustainable production districts to accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality was born during one of the first meetings where the Italian Mission cities came together. The four cities are characterized by the presence of productive districts that, although they have common characteristics, differ substantially: an interesting feature both for developing an in-depth analysis, which can lead to replicability of best practices, and for the approach of co-designing innovative policies and governance measures resulting from a broad comparison among these realities.
Roma Capitale, thanks to the project funds, will focus on the Tiburtina Valley district of industry located in the northeastern part of the city characterized by a high concentration of aerospace, defense and technology industries that are leaders in their respective production sectors. The goal is to define joint action strategies for sustainable development on both energy efficiency and water resource management to overcome the historical problems that have characterized the area.
