EURAC highlights the potential of Smart Cities projects in the fight against climate change

SINFONIA project partner EURAC has noted a decrease of European investment in urban innovation, within a newly published study dedicated to the screening of European funding available for Smart Cities projects. The objective of the book, entitled “Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions”, is to present sustainable solutions for smart city planning.

 

The chapter written by EURAC’s experts examines the evolution of the amount of European funding dedicated to Smart City projects and evaluates the investment needs for future European research and development programmes in this field. After screening the allocation of the European budget, it appeared that money for research and development had decreased from three euro per person in the 1980s to only one euro per person in the mid-2000s. Additionally, the share of funding made available for Smart Cities projects represented only 3% of the total funding dedicated to energy projects in the last European research and development programmes and this share is expected to decline to 1% by 2020.

 

As cities represent 70% of the European energy consumption, their contribution to energy and climate goals is essential. In fact, the authors of the chapter underline that “the majority of [energy] savings could come from improvement in cities”. In that sense, Smart City projects are of high importance because they “target the sector with the highest energy consumption, and […] aim to utilise renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.

 

To learn more about the analysis conducted by EURAC’s experts, you can read the full book chapter here or contact Simon Pezzutto, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Renewable Energy of the European Academy of Bolzano.

FINANCING
2016-12-02