Policies, measures and actions on climate change and
environmental protection in the context of COVID-19 recovery.

San Marino

Last update 2 Sep. 2020

1.Climate mitigation measures

Sustainable transportation

Response Recovery Redesign

Sustainable mobility to live in San Marino: The NEP3 has intended to place particular emphasis on the sector of sustainable mobility, addressed only in a preliminary and superficial way in the previous NEP1 and NEP2.

This Third National Energy Plan of the Republic of San Marino identifies two fundamental strategic directions to pursue:
1) “Traditional” strategic direction - Electric Mobility.
2) “Innovative” strategic approach - Hydrogen mobility through Fuel Cells.

In the Third Energy Plan of the Republic of San Marino, electric mobility is considered necessarily and widely incentivized as a very short-term investment, in particular in terms of concessions for electric cars, installation of charging stations, electric industrial vehicles, etc.

Reference https://eway.sm/en/

Contact Ministry of the Environment
Technological innovation (digitalization / hydrogen/ CCUS‚ etc.)

Response Recovery Redesign

Updating of legislation on substances that deplete the ozone layer and greenhouse global warming
The Republic of San Marino is a party to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer. The government intends to ratify the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol. This amendment envisages the adoption of measures to gradually reduce the production and use of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are organic compounds used mainly in refrigeration systems, air conditioning and heat pumps; they have widely replaced CFCs and HCFCs, which are the main causes of the ozone hole. However, HFCs are greenhouse gases with a high global warming potential (GWP), much more intense than carbon dioxide and, therefore, have a strong impact on the climate. Global implementation of the Kigali amendment would prevent up to 100 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2050, while being one of the most cost-effective measures. This could avoid up to 0.4 ° C of global warming by the end of this century and would significantly contribute to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to as much as 2 ° C. This can be also an opportunity to redesign cooling equipment that is more energy efficient, further increasing climate gains. Therefore, after ratifying the Kigali amendment, the government will update Law no. 38 of 5 April 2012, which establishes a system of authorisation for the use of HFCs, controls on import and use and sanctions.

Contact Ministry of the Environment
Transition to renewable energy

Response Recovery Redesign

Photovoltaic installations and mechanisms introducing and regulating energy credit
To date, the photovoltaic installations in the territory of the Republic of San Marino are 1,507 (distributed among small businesses and private users), for a total installed capacity of 11.8 MW. 1278 installations, for a total capacity of 10.3 MW, benefit from the net metering mechanism, while 229 installations, for a total capacity of 1.5 MW, benefit from the special net metering mechanism introduced in 2012 (Delegated Decree no. 84/2012). Based on both mechanisms, the owners of photovoltaic installations can receive energy credit for the electricity produced by their photovoltaic systems, which is however not used and thus is fed into the public electricity grid. Such energy credit must be used within the following calendar year.
The special mechanism allows you to use other areas on which ownership or surface rights can be exercised, not necessarily within the land lot where electricity is drawn, in order to meet your energy needs, by feeding energy into other places: indeed, the special net metering mechanism is a concrete response to those who, living in blocks of flats, would in most cases be unable to generate and use clean energy produced by a photovoltaic system.

Reference https://www.aass.sm/site/home/elettricita/energie-rinnovabili/produzione-fotovoltaica-nella-repubblica-di-san-marino.html

Contact Ministry of the Environment
Industry sector

Response Recovery Redesign

San Marino Plastic free: An educational campaign has been promoted since February 2019 to raise consumers’ awareness of plastic pollution and every 2 months a leaflet illustrating this campaign is attached to the bill.

The campaign for the reduction of plastic waste in the Republic of San Marino was launched in March 2019, on the occasion of World Water Day.

“Less plastic, more life”. This is one of the banners that San Marino students put on display on Friday 15 March 2019 in front of the Government Building during the “Friday for future” event.

This is why the Autonomous Public Utilities State Corporation, the Ministry of the Territory and Environment and the Ministry of Education have devised the awareness campaign "San Marino Plastic Free", with the aim of reducing as much as possible the production of plastic waste in the Republic of San Marino. On 18 March 2019, the Great and General Council (Parliament) voted unanimously for a decision committing the government to ban the sale of single-use plastics from 2021.

Reference https://www.sanmarinoliberadallaplastica.com/

Contact Ministry of the Environment
Transition to renewable energy

Response

Energy efficiency interventions
The 3 National Energy Plans have led to the issuance of decrees on incentives in order to enhance incentive policies for interventions to increase the energy efficiency of buildings: the most requested incentives include tax deductions for individual interventions and non-repayable grants for interventions concerning the building-plant system. The total number of energy efficiency interventions is just over 550.

Reference https://www.consigliograndeegenerale.sm/on-line/home/lavori-consiliari/consultazione-archivi/documento17100173.html

2.Climate adaptation measures

Health

Redesign

In the framework of the 2015-2017 Health and Socio-Health Plan (http://www.sanita.sm/on-line/home/authority-sanitaria/pianificazione-e-programmazione/piani-sanitari-e-sociosanitari/2015-2017/documento2088513.html ), still in force, paragraph 1.2 "Key elements of the health profile of San Marino population" takes into account a number of aspects that are certainly affected by climate change, such as air quality (atmospheric particulate matter, CO, nitrogen dioxide, ozone), water quality, noise pollution, waste management, exposure to electromagnetic fields and ionizing and non-ionizing radiation and exposure to asbestos.
In the 2016-2019 guidelines, under "Living and working environments" (page 14 et seq.), information is provided on the objectives to be achieved.

Reference http://www.sanita.sm/on-line/home/authority-sanitaria.html

Contact Ministry of Health
Adaptation planning

Response

National Civil Protection Plan: The Civil Protection Emergency Plan, approved on 2 May 2018, is aimed at protecting people, assets and territory in case of disasters. Through this instrument, tasks and responsibilities are entrusted to operational structures, organisations and individuals for the activation of specific actions in case of emergency, according to an operational model that defines the chain of command and coordination.
The Plan is a dynamic instrument periodically reviewed. Therefore, it must be continuously updated in relation to possible changes in risk scenarios and turnover of staff assigned to specific functions.
The Plan establishes the San Marino Operations Centre, a structure used by the Head of the Civil Protection Service to coordinate emergency interventions that also require the collaboration of bodies and entities outside the civil protection structures identified by Law no. 21/2006.
The Operations Centre consists of the Crisis Unit convened by the Head of the Civil Protection Service, in which the Directors and Commanders of the civil protection operational structures participate. Such body provides instructions and orders to the Operations Room, which is organised in "Support Functions", i.e. specific areas of activity that require the joint and coordinated action of different parties.

Reference https://www.gov.sm/doc/Amministrazione-trasparente/Protezione-civile/Piani-di-Protezione-Civile/Piani-di-Protezione-Civile.html

Contact Ministry of the Environment
Adaptation planning

Response Recovery Redesign

Delegated Decree: PROMOTION AND REGULATION OF THE CIVIL PROTECTION VOLUNTARY SERVICE
The Delegated Decree "Promotion and Regulation of the Civil Protection Voluntary Service" sets out the rules governing the activity of the civil protection voluntary service, which plays a strategic role for the safety and security of civil society.
San Marino community can rely on an extraordinary resource in terms of skills and operational capacity in case of emergencies, fully integrated with the other territorial levels of intervention envisaged in the organisation of the system, based on the principle of vertical subsidiarity. Volunteers will also be actors and guards of their territory and in particular of their Townships (San Marino municipalities), protecting the community in close collaboration with the institutions, based on the principle of horizontal subsidiarity.
The associations and the township groups of civil protection will undertake important training and educational courses that will allow them, under the coordination of the Civil Protection Service, to provide an effective and professional rescue service in disaster and emergency situations.
Civil protection volunteers can also contribute decisively, in peacetime, to the forecasting and prevention of risks affecting our country, to information and dissemination activities for citizens, thus helping to develop and increase the resilience of the entire community.

Contact Ministry of the Environment

3.Cross-cutting measures

Citizens’ lives (behaviour change) / employment

Redesign

General Town Planning Scheme: garden of Europe, microcosm of biodiversity. The Republic of San Marino is committed to promoting its development model based on sustainability. The new General Town Planning Scheme intends to achieve this objective, by focusing attention on the relationship between climate and land use. 10 political pillars and a variety of strategic projects. The unchanged parts of the Plan include: containment of land consumption, making the territory safe, increasing urban quality, enhancement of the landscape, historical and cultural heritage.
Urban regeneration is the fundamental theme on which the future of our country is based and urban development will be implemented without consuming new land, but by upgrading and improving the already consolidated urban fabric.
Parks and green areas have been networked through elements of environmental and eco-system continuity in order to ensure better environmental and urban quality as a whole.
Protection strips have been identified for the main watercourses, 10 m wide on each side, in order to guarantee environmental continuity and access for maintenance and safety interventions on banks.
The health emergency has made even more urgent this renewal process involving the quality of spaces, in order to improve the quality of life of those who live in such spaces.

Reference https://www.agency.sm/san-marino-2030

Contact Ministry of the Environment
Others

Response

Dialogue Forum: Climate Change - The Environment and Climate Change. The Republic of San Marino is determined to launch courageous active policies for sustainable development, making the environment a resource not to be exploited, but to be enhanced. The lack of prevention has led to an increasing amount of resources being borrowed from nature, reaching and sometimes even going beyond unsustainable levels. Typical examples of such situation are climate change and biodiversity erosion, whose severity has long been known. The causes of climate change, the resulting problems and the prospects for sustainable development are challenging issues that will be addressed in the Republic of San Marino with the help of academics and scientific experts of high standing from various Italian and international universities. Among the speakers, worth mentioning is Prof. Gianfranco Santovito, from the University of Padua and member of the expedition of scientists and observers working in Antarctica to study the causes and effects of climate change.

Reference https://www.studioag.sm/forum/

Contact Ministry of the Environment

4.Other environmental measures

Waste management and Circular economy / sustainable production and consumption

Response

composting organic waste (Bio-waste):
Composting plant (Autonomous Public Utilities State Corporation in San Giovanni)
The aerobic composting plant with forced ventilation through the use of biocells currently consists of 12 elements operating on a cycle. Each biocell is served by an autonomous aeraulic system consisting of a fan, biofilter on a woody matrix, channels and connection valves.
The maturation of the compost is completed by mechanical turning of the piles made upon the yard, this phase requires a further period of about 2 months. The entire processing cycle requires a period of 3 months.
The plant is currently sized to process a quantity of waste equal to 1,400 ÷ 1,500 ton/year corresponding to the quantity of wet waste currently collected. The Autonomous Public Utilities State Corporation intends to extend the collection of organic waste to all users in the area. This activity will have important positive side effects for what concerns the disposal of the undifferentiated fraction, which will be reduced in quantity and will have better characteristics for the purpose of energy recovery (higher Lower Heating Value - LHV).

Reference https://www.aass.sm/site/home/ambiente/compostaggio.html

Contact Ministry of the Environment