Italy is considering granting various subsidies to mitigate the impact on citizens and businesses following the rapid transition to the green economy, Bloomberg reports.
“Everyone knows that the transition is urgent, but everyone knows that the transition will be painful and will require huge efforts, economic and behavioral efforts. People need to change the way they move, produce and buy goods,” said Roberto Cingolani, Minister for Ecological Transition, in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Physicist Cingolani has been appointed by Prime Minister Mario Draghi to oversee the revision of the Italian economy towards a low-emission future, while increasing investment and ensuring the competitiveness of key sectors such as the automotive industry, according to Agerpres.
He is betting on subsidies – partly backed by funds included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNNR) that Italy will receive for post-pandemic reconstruction – to speed up the transition and reduce voter dissatisfaction.
“We are considering introducing regulations to reduce the cost of electricity. We know where we want to go in the long term, but we will face difficulties in the medium term,” said the Minister for Ecological Transition.
The Rome government is developing a massive program to improve the energy efficiency of public and private buildings and to encourage Italians to replace some 13 million old, polluting cars.
Car manufacturer Stellantis announced this month that negotiations with the Government of Rome on the possible construction of a battery factory for electric vehicles (gigafactory) in Italy are continuing, amid the switch to electric vehicles.
Stellantis, which already has two battery plant projects in France and Germany, with total investments of five billion euros, has announced that it will decide to add new units in Europe and the United States this year.
At the moment, Stellantis is in talks with the authorities in Rome, given that Italy is one of its main production hubs in Europe.
Stellantis is the fourth global carmaker, formed following the merger between Fiat Chrysler and the French group PSA.
