- The agreement envisages several initiatives to fight energy poverty, from setting up energy communities among nonprofit organizations to mapping energy poverty in Italy to support families in need
Milan, October 18th, 2022 - Fighting energy poverty in Italy by supporting, in particular, religious bodies and nonprofit organizations that are already on a journey of ecological conversion and that every day support families in need in the local area: this is the purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed today in Milan by Enel and Fratello Sole, a nonprofit consortium focusing on sustainability, whose members are organizations in the voluntary sector.
“With this agreement we intend to help fight energy poverty in our country, alongside those who support the most vulnerable on a daily basis,” comments Nicola Lanzetta, Director of Enel Italia. “By adopting more virtuous and sustainable distributed generation and energy efficiency models we can achieve both economic and environmental benefits. This is what lies at the heart of the new development and consumption paradigm that we wish to promote through this agreement.”
“The Memorandum of Understanding that we signed today is the result of a joint effort undertaken within the Energy Poverty Alliance. This issue has been one of the greatest challenges facing both Italy and Europe for quite some time and, possibly, has become even more dramatic now due to current historical circumstances,” adds Fabio Gerosa, President of Fratello Sole. “We must come up with new ideas, tangible projects, and unprecedented synergies as quickly as possible so that we can promptly and effectively answer the needs of many of our fellow citizens whose present and future are truly at risk.”
The protocol envisages a number of joint initiatives aimed at promoting the adoption of the sustainability model on a number of levels. These initiatives include: activities aimed at promoting the establishment of energy communities involving organizations in the voluntary sector, such as parishes, religious associations and social cooperatives, which allow them to share energy produced from renewable sources; mapping energy poverty, starting with a pilot project to be implemented throughout the country, through a digital platform, with the goal of finding adequate measures in support of vulnerable and energy-poor people; training opportunities to raise stakeholder awareness of the economic and social benefits of energy communities; implementing specific projects in Southern Italy, which has the highest number of families in need; and developing initiatives related to electric mobility and sharing mobility.