In May 2020, the Department of the Treasury launched the project “Sustainable finance and investments for the transition to a green economy”, in collaboration with the European Commission's DG REFORM Structural Reform Program and a team of experts, aimed at defining: i) a regulatory framework for sovereign green emissions; ii) the investment needs to achieve the decarbonisation targets by 2050 in Italy; iii) an improved policy framework to foster the mobilisation of private capital flows to achieve climate neutrality targets by 2050.

The project involved the realisation of six deliverables, a brief description of which is published below, together with the final materials and reports:

• Initial report: contains an introduction to the project.
• The definition of a Sovereign Green Bond Framework: the regulatory framework, already published on the MoF website, allowed the issuance of sovereign green bonds for Italy (the BTP Green).
• The assessment of investment needs by sector - starting from the analysis of green investments made in recent years, the assessment has considered the investment needs broken down by sector; the analysis was carried out with the support of a mapping of investment flows (public and private) and in-depth consultation with relevant stakeholders.
• The definition of policies to finance needs: through specific interviews with industry players and trade associations, the report identified existing barriers to private financing of sustainable investments, distinguished by sector and type of barrier, with the aim of identifying a combination of market and regulatory mechanisms to overcome these barriers, as well as assessing different types of incentives to promote sustainable investment by the private sector. The combination of these mechanisms resulted in a draft of “Action Plan for Sustainable Finance in Italy”.
• The Impact Assessment and Just Transition - the analysis assesses the economic and social impact of the transition to a green economy; measures are proposed to offset or mitigate negative effects and remove barriers to transition.
• The Final Report - includes a description of the project and the objectives achieved.