The institutional activities of the Foundation continue at a rapid pace Venezia World Capital of Sustainability, the body established in March last year to rethink the future and urban development of Venice from a sustainable perspective. And now we have entered the financial support phase with the issuance of ESG bond instruments.
The noble parterre of the Foundation
The foundation chaired by Renato Brunetta, and which includes the governor of the Veneto Region as vice-presidents Luca Zaia and the mayor of Venice Louis Brugnaro, in the next few days it will formalize the entry of four new important partners, active in the financial, scientific and industrial sectors. Currently in addition to thirteen founding members (Veneto Region, City of Venice, Ca' Foscari, Iuav, Academy of Fine Arts Venice, Benedetto Marcello Conservatory, Cini Foundation, Generali, Bcg, Confindustria Veneto, Enel, Eni and Snam), the foundation has others 28 "big" co-founders (Almaviva, Amazon, Northern Adriatic Port Authority, Autostrade, Cav, Chamber of Commerce Venice and Rovigo, Cdp, Eagle Pictures, Edison, Enfinity, InfinityHub, Invitalia, Railways, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione di Venezia, Leonardo, Marsilio, Microsoft, Poste, Pwc, Sanlorenzo, Save, Sorgente group, Terna, The European House-Ambrosetti, Tim, Umanae Venice International University).
The Foundation will become the largest incubator of ideas
But what are the goals of the system of the Venice Sustainability Foundation, a new entry in the panorama of large Italian foundations, but which in a very short time already sees such a distinguished group of members? Simplifying as much as possible, the Foundation will become the largest incubator of useful ideas and good practices to contribute - in a logic of public-private collaboration - to redesigning the future of the city subway. From now to the next few years, FVCMS will make a catalog of structured projects to overcome that series of complex challenges that threaten the very survival of Venice in the first place.
Among the projects: Porto Marghera and Venezia Città Campus
From a practical point of view, the Foundation will also act as a aggregator of operational synergies between the actors appointed to govern Venice in terms of urban planning, economic development and the knowledge economy. A central nucleus of transversal projects will gradually direct the activities of the foundation, such as for example the recovery of the industrial area of Porto Marghera in a perspective of development of a Venetian - and regional - hub of hydrogen and alternative energies. Another nodal point of the FVCMS activities concerns the project "Venice City Campus”, an evolving range of initiatives to support university and research activities, starting from the creation of an academic campus of international standing, designed to encourage residential programs for those interested in living permanently in Venice.
Towards a sustainable tourism model
And again: Venice World Capital Foundation Sustainability as early as next year it will plan a complex of interventions for the creation of a sustainable tourism model, crushed today by gigantic incoming flows, which are difficult to find mediation with the protection of the Venetian cultural and environmental heritage. In fact, in 2022 almost 8 million presences were recorded in the historic center of Venice: numbers far removed from the top 20 most visited cities in the world but already capable of making the structural health of the Venetian city absolutely precarious. «We will bring together the wealth of ideas that distinguishes the history of our members and our partners to reconfigure the global “skyline” of Venice in a modern and sustainable logic” he explains Alexander Costa, director general of the Foundation. “To do this we are implementing sustainability indices linked to the Foundation's areas of operation, capable of tangibly monitoring the progress of the metropolitan city of Venice. Just in these weeks the "Sustainability Biennial"Dedicated to Mose, an extraordinary work that allows us to gain a few years of breathing space to also plan for "after Mose", when the water level will require new technological works to defend the city. Another strategic chapter concerns "Venezia Città Campus", crucial for bringing an international research and culture cluster to the island and mainland areas capable of also giving new demographic life to the city".
The issuance of ESG bond instruments is in sight
As the millenary history of the Serenissima wisely teaches us to put in the foreground, among the next commitments on the agenda an important part of time will be dedicated to the collection of financial resources. In fact, the international roadshow will continue, in partnership with the main stakeholders connected to the Foundation, dedicated to promoting theissuance of ESG bond instruments, to be used to ensure that the capital instruments necessary to compete with the great global capitals of culture, research and tourism flow into the social and financial ecosystem of Venice.
