Environment: New ENEA software calculates emissions avoided with European programs

ENEA, as part of the project CO2MPARE Evolution to support sustainability, mitigation and adaptation to climate change projects, has created CO2MPARE v.2.0, a new software to calculate CO2 equivalent emissions^[1] avoided  with European programs.

The new calculation model has estimated total savings^[2] of over 170 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent for the projects ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and JTF (Just transition fund), envisaged by the strategic guidance document for programming of European funds (Partnership Agreement 2021-2027).

An updated version of the previous CO2MPARE, it aims to respond to the challenges of the 2021-2027 programming and it was presented by ENEA in Rome on the occasion of an event attended by representatives of the European Commission, the Department for Cohesion Policies, the Presidency of the Council and of the State Accounting Office. During the conference, the outcomes of the application of the new version to the 2021-2027 Partnership Agreement (ERDF and JTF), which provides 45 million euro to reduce territorial gaps, and to the PNRR, were illustrated.

The application to the PNRR allowed us to estimate a reduction of approximately 560 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent over the total life span of the interventions, i.e. from their start to their conclusion.

The CO2MPARE model v. 2.0 allows for ex ante, ongoing and ex post evaluations of plans and programmes: the effects of alternative planning scenarios can be estimated in advance and then the alignment of activities with the initial objectives verified and the results analysed. Cecilia Camporeale, researcher at the ENEA Department of Sustainability, Circularity and Adaptation to Climate Change of Production and Territorial Systems said the advantages are countless: "The model provides the cumulative equivalent CO₂ emissions of a plan or program based on the total financial allocation divided by sectors of intervention according to the choices of national or regional administrations.

It enables you to distinguish between direct and indirect emissions, both in the construction and the operational phase. Thanks to its flexibility, it can be applied to plans and programs reconstructing an ad hoc architecture, using the library of standardized project-types available to the model, which is updated as part of the CO2MPARE Evolution project. Furthermore, it allows you to compare alternative scenarios for the same program. It is, therefore, a valuable tool for orienting investment choices, especially those for the cohesion of the European Union, towards sustainable growth and a low-carbon economy".