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Environmental Performance Reviews ITALY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960, and which came into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed: – to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy; – to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic development; and – to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non- discriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations. The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The following countries became Members subsequently through accession at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964), Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973), Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21stDecember1995), Hungary (7th May 1996), Poland (22ndNovember1996), Korea (12th December 1996) and the Slovak Republic (14th December2000). The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention). Publié en français sous le titre : Examens des performances environnementales ITALIE © OECD 2002 Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for non-commercial purposes or classroom use should be obtained through the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC), 20, rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, France, tel. (33-1) 44 07 47 70, fax (33-1) 46 34 67 19, for every country except the United States. In the United States permission should beobtained through the Copyright Clearance Center, Customer Service, (508)750-8400, 222Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 USA, or CCC Online: www.copyright.com. All other applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this book should be made to OECD Publications, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 3 FOREWORD The principal aim of the OECD’s Environmental Performance Reviews is to help member countries improve their individual and collective performances in environmental management. The primary goals for this programme are: – to help individual governments assess progress; – to promote a continuous policy dialogue among member countries, through a peer review process; and – to stimulate greater accountability from member countries’ governments towards their public opinion, within developed countries and beyond. Environmental performance is assessed with regard to the degree of achievement of domestic objectives and international commitments. Such objectives and commit- ments may be broad aims, specific qualitative goals, precise quantitative targets or a commitment to a set of measures to be taken. Assessment of environmental performance is also placed within the context of historical environmental records, the present state of the environment, the physical endowment of the country in natural resources, its economic conditions and demographic trends. These systematic and independent reviews have been conducted for all member countries as part of the first cycle of reviews. The OECD is now engaged in the second cycle of reviews directed at promoting sustainable development, with emphasis on implementation of domestic and international environmental policy, as well as on the integration of economic, social and environmental decision-making. The report was peer-reviewed by the Working Party on Environmental Performance (Paris, June 2002). The conclusions and recommendations of the report are approved by the Working Party. © OECD 2002 Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 5 GENERAL INTRODUCTION This review of Italy’s environmental performance examines results in the light of domestic objectives and international commitments. It reviews progress since the previous OECD Environmental Performance Review of 1994. It also evaluates progress with respect to objectives of the2001 OECD Environmental Strategy. The report is organised in three parts: – PartI is entitled: “Environmental Management” and focuses on air, water, and waste management, as well as nature conservation and biodiversity; – PartII is entitled: “Sustainable Development” and focuses on environmental policy integration in the economy, in social policies and in the transport sector; – PartIII is entitled: “International Commitments” and focuses on international co-operation. The OECD extends its most sincere thanks to all those who helped in the course of this review, to the representatives of member countries to the Working Party on Environmental Performance, and especially to the examining countries (Finland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States) and their experts. The OECD is particularly indebted to the Government of Italy for its co-operation in expediting the provision of information and the organisation of the experts’ mission to Italy, and in facilitating contacts with many individuals both inside and outside administrative and governmental structures of the country. The OECD Working Party on Environmental Performance conducted the review of Italy at its meeting on 17-19 June 2002 and approved its conclusions and recommendations. This report is published under the authority of the Secretary-General of the OECD. © OECD 2002 Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS........................................ 19 1. Environmental Management........................................................................ 20 Implementing more effective and efficient environmental policies............. 20 Air................................................................................................................. 22 Water............................................................................................................ 23 Waste............................................................................................................ 25 Nature conservation and biodiversity........................................................... 27 2. Towards Sustainable Development.............................................................. 29 Integration of environmental concerns in economic decisions.................... 29 Integration of environmental and social concerns........................................ 30 Integration of environmental concerns in transport decisions..................... 32 3. International Co-operation........................................................................... 33 Part I ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2. AIR MANAGEMENT..................................................................................... 39 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 39 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 40 1. Evaluation of Performance........................................................................... 40 1.1 Air management policy objectives..................................................... 40 1.2 Air emissions and quality................................................................... 42 1.3 Energy................................................................................................. 46 1.4 Industry............................................................................................... 51 1.5 Transport............................................................................................. 52 2. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 53 2.1 Trends in emissions of atmospheric pollutants................................... 53 2.2 Industry sector trends......................................................................... 54 3. WATER MANAGEMENT............................................................................. 57 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 57 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 58 1. Evaluation of Performance........................................................................... 59 1.1 Policy objectives................................................................................. 59 1.2 Objective of conservation or replenishment of water resources......... 60 © OECD 2002 8 Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 1.3 Objective of acceptable water quality................................................ 63 1.4 Objective of economic sustainability of water pricing....................... 67 2. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 70 2.1 Water pricing...................................................................................... 70 2.2 Water quality....................................................................................... 73 2.3 Soil and water management planning................................................. 74 4. WASTE MANAGEMENT.............................................................................. 77 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 77 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 78 1. Evaluation of Performance........................................................................... 79 1.1 Development of legislation and waste management objectives......... 79 1.2 Urban and special waste: generation and disposal............................. 80 1.3 Urban waste: separate collection and recycling................................. 81 1.4 Special waste: prevention and recovery ............................................ 86 1.5 Use of economic instruments............................................................. 86 1.6 Transfrontier movements of waste..................................................... 87 2. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 88 2.1 Remediation of contaminated sites..................................................... 88 2.2 Regional variations in urban waste generation and disposal.............. 89 5. NATURE CONSERVATION ANDBIODIVERSITY................................. 91 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 91 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 92 1. Evaluation of Performance........................................................................... 93 1.1 Policy objectives in the1990s............................................................ 93 1.2 Protected areas.................................................................................... 94 1.3 State of biodiversity............................................................................ 98 1.4 Nature conservation outside protected areas...................................... 100 2. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 106 2.1 Protected areas in Rome..................................................................... 106 2.2 International agreements..................................................................... 107 2.3 Organic farming.................................................................................. 108 Part II SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 6. ENVIRONMENTAL – ECONOMIC INTERFACE.................................... 111 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 111 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 112 Integrating environmental concerns in economic decisions........................ 112 Implementing more effective and efficient environmental policies............. 113 © OECD 2002 Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 9 1. Towards Sustainable Development.............................................................. 114 1.1 Decoupling environmental pressures from economic growth............ 114 1.2 Sustainable development and institutional integration....................... 116 1.3 Sustainable development and market-based integration.................... 119 1.4 Environmental expenditure and its financing..................................... 121 2. Environmental Policy Implementation......................................................... 124 2.1 Objectives........................................................................................... 124 2.2 Institutional framework...................................................................... 126 2.3 Regulatory instruments....................................................................... 129 2.4 Economic instruments........................................................................ 135 2.5 Environmental impact assessment of projects.................................... 139 2.6 Voluntary initiatives............................................................................ 140 2.7 Spatial planning.................................................................................. 142 3. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 143 3.1 Economic context............................................................................... 143 3.2 Energy pricing.................................................................................... 146 3.3 Development of national environmental institutions......................... 147 3.4 Devolution process............................................................................. 148 3.5 Towards more negotiated agreements................................................ 150 3.6 Achievements in the Friuli – Venezia Giulia region........................... 151 7. ENVIRONMENTAL-SOCIAL INTERFACE.............................................. 157 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 157 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 158 1. Evaluation of Performance........................................................................... 159 1.1 Environmental employment............................................................... 159 1.2 Environment and health...................................................................... 160 1.3 Environmental disparities: poverty and access to environmental services............................................................................................... 161 1.4 Environmental disparities: hydro-geological risks and urban revival 166 1.5 Environmental awareness and education............................................ 168 1.6 Environmental democracy: information and public participation...... 169 2. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 172 2.1 Social context..................................................................................... 172 2.2 Health and electromagnetic radiation................................................. 174 8. SECTORAL INTEGRATION: TRANSPORT.............................................. 177 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 177 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 178 1. Evaluation of Performance........................................................................... 179 1.1 Policy objectives................................................................................. 179 © OECD 2002 10 Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 1.2 Environmental measures concerning vehicles, fuels andinfrastructure................................................................................ 181 1.3 Fostering the integration of environmental concerns in transport policies and practices.......................................................................... 184 1.4 Developing a sustainable balance between transport modes.............. 188 2. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 192 2.1 Current transport trends: high motorisation and domination of road transport.............................................................................................. 192 2.2 Traffic management in urban areas: a wealth of innovative measures............................................................................................. 194 2.3 Tackling environment and mobility problems in Rome..................... 195 Part III INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS 9. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION........................................................ 201 Recommendations.............................................................................................. 201 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 202 1. Evaluation of Performance............................................................................... 203 1.1 Climate change....................................................................................... 203 1.2 Protecting the ozone layer...................................................................... 208 1.3 Transboundary air pollution................................................................... 209 1.4 Marine pollution..................................................................................... 211 1.5 Living marine resources......................................................................... 215 1.6 Development co-operation..................................................................... 219 1.7 Implementation of EU environmental legislation.................................. 219 2. Focus on Selected Topics............................................................................. 221 2.1 International agreements..................................................................... 221 2.2 Regional co-operation........................................................................ 222 2.3 Drought and desertification................................................................ 223 ANNEXES I.A Selected environmental data........................................................................... 226 I.B Selected economic data.................................................................................. 228 I.C Selected social data........................................................................................ 230 II.A Selected multilateral agreements (worldwide)............................................... 232 II.B Selected multilateral agreements (regional)................................................... 236 III. Selected environmental events (1994-2001).................................................. 241 IV. Physical context.............................................................................................. 245 © OECD 2002 Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 11 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures 2.1 Air pollutant emissions................................................................................... 43 2.2 Energy structure and intensity........................................................................ 47 3.1 Water use........................................................................................................ 61 3.2 Population connected to public waste water treatment plant......................... 65 3.3 Agricultural inputs.......................................................................................... 67 4.1 Municipal waste generation............................................................................ 82 4.2 Trends in separate waste collection................................................................ 84 4.3 Recovery levels of some materials................................................................. 84 4.4 Exports of hazardous waste............................................................................ 88 5.1 Major protected areas..................................................................................... 95 5.2 Fauna and flora............................................................................................... 99 5.3 Agriculture...................................................................................................... 101 6.1 Economic structure and trends....................................................................... 144 7.1 Social indicators............................................................................................. 173 8.1 Road fuel prices and taxes.............................................................................. 187 8.2 Trends in transalpine freight transport............................................................ 189 8.3 Trends in the transport sector......................................................................... 193 9.1 CO emissions by major sources.................................................................... 205 2 9.2 Official development assistance..................................................................... 220 Map of Italy............................................................................................................. 246 Tables 2.1 Energy prices in selected OECD countries.................................................... 48 3.1 Surface water quality in the main river basins............................................... 63 3.2 Waste water treatment.................................................................................... 65 3.3 Water prices in selected OECD countries...................................................... 70 3.4 Water prices in selected municipalities.......................................................... 71 4.1 Generation of urban waste.............................................................................. 82 4.2 Disposal of urban waste................................................................................. 83 4.3 Separate collection of urban waste................................................................. 83 4.4 Recovery of packaging waste......................................................................... 85 4.5 Separate waste collection............................................................................... 85 © OECD 2002