Rome, 4-7-2019. A meeting has taken place at the Ministry of Economic Development between Undersecretary Davide Crippa and a delegation of 6 representatives of companies in the energy sector. The meeting was arranged by EUREC, the Association of European Renewable Energy Research Centres.
Besides the Undersecretary and his chief of staff, Emanuele Piccinno, the participants were:
Discussions focused on European funding for research and development of clean and renewable energy technologies.
Discussions are taking place in Brussels on the amount of money that should be budgeted for “Horizon Europe”. This is a research programme with a proposed budget of 100 billion euros expected to run from the start of 2021 to the end of 2027. One of the areas it will fund it concerns integrated action to combat climate change and meet the challenges facing our energy and transport systems.
No decisions have been reached yet on the size of the budget for this or the other areas.
According to Pierre Herben, “We must use all the tools at our disposal to transform the European economy for a low- and ultimately zero-carbon future. European citizens are increasingly concerned about climate change and ensuring that at least 35% of Horizon Europe budget is spent on research and demonstration with a clear, immediate climate benefit is a must.”
“European countries must collaborate if they are to use public money for research in the most efficient way,” said Marco Colatarci. “Opportunities must be explored to coordinate research programmes between countries through mechanisms like the SET Plan (Strategic Energy Technology Plan) and European Partnerships. That would allow large-scale international projects to form.”
Undersecretary Crippa, in the margins of the meeting, said, “Our discussions this afternoon have been very fruitful. Italy is a strong believer in intergovernmental cooperation in research, particularly for subjects that require action at global level, like climate change.”
“In line with commitments made by Italy under Mission Innovation to double annual spending in R&D” – continued Crippa – “our Decreto Crescita, recently approved, proposes investments of 40 million euros in research and development of clean energy. At European level, the SET Plan is the right tool to increase collaboration. Concerning budgets, Italy will push to increase the resources available in Horizon Europe for technological, economic and societal transformations required to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.”
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