UPDATES – CRISPIANO

May 23, 2024

The Green & Social Hub presentation event during the Crispiano Sustainability Festival was a great success. The Mayor Luca Lopomo thanked Valerio Lucciarini De Vincenzi, General Secretary of ALI (Italian Local Autonomies) and President of the Network of Sustainable Municipalities, underlining that the Municipality of Crispiano was the first to join the Network. The Mayor then highlighted how the public-private partnership of the project, in harmony with objective 17 of the 2030 Agenda, has obtained direct funding from the European Social Fund to pursue objectives also in line with the 2030 Agenda, including the reduction of inequalities, the application of the circular economy and support for less well-off families to overcome energy poverty. Lopomo then explained that within the Municipality Hub there will be young NEETs who will have the opportunity to work on the project. The challenge, underlines the Mayor, will be to achieve concrete objectives which will then be presented in future events to increase people’s awareness of the opportunities that exist for a better relationship with energy sources. All this with a great desire to innovate and overcome the obstacles of the Administrations.

Following the speech by Valerio Lucciarini De Vincenzi who thanked the Mayor, highlighting how Crispiano represents a great opportunity to exchange administrative virtuosity for the Network of Sustainable Municipalities. The President of RCS stated that for 5 years ALI has been generating an activity on sustainability concepts together with Leganet, Bio City and Network of Sustainable Municipalities, making a tool available to the Municipalities to monitor administrative activity. De Vincenzi then highlighted how the success of the project was achieved thanks to the professionalism of ALI’s investee company, Leganet, thanking Alessandra Salvatori, Administrative Director of Leganet and Account Manager of the project, and Simona Scarton, Executive Manager of G&S Hub. Finally, the General Secretary of ALI explained how the possibility of accessing renewable energy sources is often limited to economic possibilities, a problem that generates distrust on the part of less well-off citizens. The Green & Social Hub project focuses precisely on this theme, he said, or on the fight against energy poverty through adequate communication to all citizens on the possibilities of energy support.

Subsequently, the moderator Gianmarco Sansolino briefly illustrated the details of the project, listing the recipients it is aimed at – 150 vulnerable people/families, 20 young NEETs, local stakeholders and public opinion – passing the floor to the Executive Manager of the project, Simona Scarton. Scarton underlined the importance of action research, a fundamental activity within the project, carried out on two levels: at a local level, the project partner Studio Come carries out specific analyses, in contact with social services, to create a local mapping of the issues so that this analysis can be made available to other project activities related to energy poverty; Globally, the ACR+ partner is analyzing data on these issues. The aim is to find the solution together to tackle energy poverty. The Executive Manager then explained that the project focuses on the creation of a possible Renewable Energy Community with the final objective of creating good practices that can be transmitted internationally. Scarton then announced the forthcoming opening of branches in the other Municipalities and the start of the training of NEETs who will manage the branches. Dr. Scarton, after having illustrated the project website, concluded by reiterating that in the coming months, events will be organized in which everyone, including neighboring administrations, will be able to take part, with a view to exchanging and sharing good practices.

Images of the event on May 23rd presenting the Crispiano Hub