Kyoto Project
Research project on climate change and greenhouse gases monitoring and reduction in Lombardia

Contact
Mita Lapi
Budget
The total budget for the Kyoto Project is 3.130.000€:

Institutions and Researchers Involved
Project Leader (PL)

Directive Committee (CDP)

Scientific committee (CS)

Scientific Secretariat (STP)

Research Chief

Researchers

Cronology
January 2002

September 2003

December 2004

December 2006

Aims
The Kyoto Project is an integrated three years project (2004 – 2006) that aims at providing the basic information (data, scenarios, policies) for monitoring and reduction of greenhouse gases emissions on a regional scale.
The Kyoto Project, natural follow up of the PRQA , aims to achieve the following objectives:

The knowledge built up within the project will be pilotal for the definition of greenhouse gases control policies in Lombardia.
This is the first local pilot project in Italy for the control of climate change. It has been exploiting most of the results produced within the PRQA a joint collaboration between fla, Regione Lombardia and ARPA Lombardia. The Kyoto Project is included in the Framework Agreement on the environment and energy signed by the Environment Minister and the Regione Lombardia. The main features of the project are the definition of an emission monitoring network, the implementation and the updating of GHG emissions inventories, the definition of emissive scenarios, an evaluation system on the effectiveness of future policies in the main sectors related to the greenhouse gases increasing.
The Kyoto Project is based on the collaboration among fla, Regione Lombardia and ARPA, in order to work out, on local scale, the main measure for GHGs decreasing.
The Kyoto Project implementation will give our region a leadership position in order to enforce the EU goals concerning the Kyoto agreement. The Kyoto Protocol, signed by 122 countries, has settled a list of greenhouse gases and has shown the GHG reduction targets for each industrialized country. The Parties agreed to reduce their emissions by an overall 5,2% from 1990 levels within 2008-2012. Italy has ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 (CIPE deliberation 19 November 1998 n. 137) with the target reducing greenhouse gases emissions at 6,5% compared with the 1990 figures.

Summary
In the framework of Kyoto Project there are close collaboration with several universities and scientific institutions as EC Joint Research Centre (JRC), Universitā degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Universitā degli Studi di Milano, Politecnico di Milano, Universitā Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Universitā degli Studi della Tuscia, Universitā degli Studi di Parma, CNR, ERSAF Lombardia, FEEM e Associazione Rete di Punti Energia.

Climate Study - Research on climate evolution (historical data series) and current trends in Lombardia. Analysis of frequency and intensity of extreme meteorological events.
Most of the historical series of meteorological, hydrological and glaciological data, relative to the Lombardia, are still to be collected and analysed. These homogeneous data series are crucial in order to investigate the impact of the observed variations on areas of limited surface. Very low climatic signals on the regional scale can give rise, locally, to important consequences, such as an increasing possibility of landslides, floods or relevant damages to agriculture productions. In this context, through “Statistical Analysis” it will be improved the spatial and temporal resolution of historical series for meteorological, hydrological and glaciological data relevant for the Lombardia. These data will be put in relationships with geological accidents and extreme meteorological events. These results will contribute to improve the local socio-economic measures aimed to climate changes’ mitigation and adaptation.

Emissions - Implementation of the emission inventory for greenhouse gases and its harmonization with IPCC procedures.
Planned activities include the harmonization of the Lombardia emission inventory of GHG with the IPCC methodologies and the addition of F-gas in the inventory.
Other activities include a black box model for greenhouse gas emissions estimates at the municipality level in Lombardia, an uncertainty analysis for greenhouse gas emissions in Lombardia and the definition of emission factors for specific activities.
It will be also considered the definition of the methodology for data collection for the regional energy balance, useful for the greenhouse gas emissions estimates.
Fuel consumption will be assessed at a regional and provincial level, with the implementation of a database for data retrieving and QA/QC analysis.
A survey on biomass (i.e.wood) and other liquid and solid fuels consumption in the residential and industry sector will be done through a region-wide interview campaign in different administrative provincial areas.

Terrestrial cycles of carbon and other greenhouse gases - Flow, sinks and stocks of carbon and other GHG.
This work package of the Kyoto Project aims at providing – in a three years time-frame –a validated estimate of the terrestrial budget of greenhouse gases for the Regione Lombardia. To this purpose, the following activities are planned:

Impacts, damages and externalities - Evaluation of economic, environmental and health externalities linked with the present climate change.
Environmental and health external costs of the climate change will be estimated through economic and not economic evaluations of the impacts rising from a possible increase of extreme meteorological events, such as phenomena of heavy raining, drought and temperature increasing, at Lombardia level.
Although the effects of greenhouse gases on the climate change are not yet clearly predictable, it would be necessary to evaluate both possible social and environmental costs that Lombardia could have in charge as consequences of climate change. In order to take into account the variability of the process, it is necessary to compare different greenhouse gas emissions and concentration levels with the different possible impacts on natural and urban (anthropological) environment. It will also determinate a vulnerability map for Lombardia.

Scenarios, policies and measures - Analysis of the emissions change in relation with economic, social and technological scenarios and control policies as well.
Planned activities include the harmonization of the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions scenarios to provide guidelines for most efficient policies to combat the climate change and the relationship between tecnological and economic scenarios either in relation with biomass use and energy, agriculture, waste and transport sector in Lombardia and in relation to greenhouse gas emissions.

Public communication
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Section Public communication aims at developing a network between the project and other society actors. Four activities have been planned:

Expected goals
The Kyoto Project will be expected to gain a leading role in the national and European context. The Project will also provide methodologies and predictive models and will be policy-relevant for decision makers.
The Kyoto Project aims at improving the actual level of knowledge by enhancing the dialogue within the scientific community on local and regional Climate Change issues, and between the community itself and the public authorities, not excluding even some kind of communication with the public.