Promote energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the world of small businesses. These are the ambitious objectives that the new executive intends to achieve through the Kyoto Fund, established by the 2007 Finance Law and which has remained without application for years. It is a huge reservoir of resources, 600 million euros, which will finally be released. This innovative financial instrument was presented today at the Cassa depositi e prestiti headquarters in the presence of Corrado Clini, Minister of the Environment, Corrado Passera, Minister of Economic Development, Vasco Errani, President of the Conference of Regions, Giovanni Sabatini, Director General of the 'Abi, Franco Bassanini and Giovanni Gorno Temprini, respectively president and director general of the CDP.
The Fund, which will start on March 15th, will be managed directly by the CDP and will support interventions at both regional and national levels. In the first case it will be the driving force for the installation of microgeneration plants and for the diffusion of small-scale structures powered by renewable sources and intended to generate electricity or heat. On a national scale, the resources will be used to develop research activities aimed at producing clean energy. Other possibilities concern the replacement of industrial electric motors with power exceeding 45kW with high efficiency motors and the elimination of nitrous oxide emissions from production processes. Furthermore, the legislation allows for the presentation of a single investment project that contemplates the integration of several areas, to be carried out on the same site in order to create an integrated system.
The recipients of the Fund constitute a large and heterogeneous pool: individuals, businesses, public entities, condominiums and private legal entities. “It is an anti-cyclical measure – explained Clini – which will make it possible to draw on available funds at an interest rate of 0,5% and according to a branch mechanism. With these resources it will be possible to make investments which, thanks to the reduction of the energy bill, will pay for themselves within 3 or 4 years and then continue to function for a long period, providing profits”. The loans will have a maximum duration of six years, which will rise to fifteen for public bodies, and will be repayable in six-monthly installments. The banks that have joined the system will be able to support those portions of the projects that have not been covered by subsidized loans. “The idea behind the Fund is to support small and widespread investments – added Clini – so as to provide lifeblood to the fabric of SMEs. Thanks to this device, the conditions will be created to radically transform the Italian energy system".
A positive functioning of the whole structure will allow the Fund to receive new resources, coming from the sale of CO2 emission permits to companies which will soon be auctioned. In fact, European directives require 50% of the proceeds to be allocated to projects to develop alternative sources and to decarbonise energy systems. The energy issue therefore assumes an increasingly central role on our country's political agenda, above all because Europe aspires to eliminate carbon emissions in industrial processes and to definitively make the green economy an effective vehicle for growth. “Energy is a transversal theme that crosses all areas of life in the country and which – observed Passera – can also be placed in the general plan of government work for the development of Italy. We need coherent choices in which the Regions will have specific responsibilities, without however neglecting the role and functions of the central administration”.
The preliminary phase of the Fund will be the prerogative of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Piedmont, which will be able to use regional development bodies and financial companies. The Regional Energy Plans will be further enhanced, “but they cannot in any way replace the National Energy Plan which – warned Errani – will require a more organic and homogeneous approach, based on the development of integrated networks. A more functional collaboration between central and peripheral institutions is urgently needed”.
