Foreword

Climate change will affect the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and natural hazards (such as floods, droughts, and fires), causing physical damage, economic loss, and social and environmental disruption across all regions of the world. In Italy, climate-induced extreme events have had severe impacts on different infrastructure networks, such as metros, train lines and electricity grids. The direct economic impact of climate change on infrastructure assets in Italy is projected to increase around twelve-fold by 2050, up to EUR 5.17 billion per year.

As part of its efforts to achieve sustainability and resilience objectives, and as part of its recovery from the pandemic, Italy would like to strengthen the role of two instruments in spatial and infrastructure planning: green infrastructure (GI) and nature-based solutions (NbS). These instruments can help safeguard biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services (the goods and services that nature provides and that are essential to life), strengthen ecological connectivity across green areas, and enhance societal resilience to climate change.

This report provides an overview of the current practices to integrate environmental and climate considerations in spatial and infrastructure planning in Italy. It provides examples on good practices to integrate GI planning in territorial development, identifies the main challenges and provides policy recommendations to promote the widespread implementation of GI and NbS in Italy.

GI and NbS remain relatively new concepts in the infrastructure field, and the lack of a solid knowledge base and technical skills among practitioners and public officials represents one of the major hurdles to increasing their use. Drawing on international good practices, this report proposes an integrated approach to GI and NbS in Italy, which may also be of interest to other countries. The approach looks at the entire lifecycle of an infrastructure project, considers the main trade-offs concerning GI and NbS, and proposes solutions to integrate them in the planning, appraisal, financing, procurement, and maintenance of infrastructure investments in Italy.

This report is part of a broader initiative aimed at strengthening Italy’s institutional and administrative capacity, including at regional and local levels, to facilitate socially inclusive, green and digital transitions. It will also contribute to OECD work on green and resilient infrastructure. The action was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the OECD in co-operation with the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission.