To date Italy has perceived its obligations under both the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions Trading System purely as a punitive cost to be shouldered rather than an opportunity for development. Not only has this made Italy nervous of European efforts to increase climate ambition, it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy: to meet its Kyoto targets Italy stands to spend billions of Euros on emission reductions overseas that would have been better spent improving Italy’s energy infrastructure and security. Without a change in strategy Italy stands to haemorrhage additional billions meeting its European climate commitments through to 2020.
An Italian translation of the report is also available.