Context analysis (for each target area) Summary European Regional Development Fund www.italy -croatia.eu/Joint_SECAP Summary Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2 1. Target area: Croatia ..................................................................................................................... 5 Overview of the national/regional/local context ......................................................................................... 5 Sitography ................................................................................................................................................... 15 2. Target areas: Italy ...................................................................................................................... 19 Overview of the national/regional/local context ....................................................................................... 19 Sitography ................................................................................................................................................... 41 European Regional Development Fund www.italy -croatia.eu/Joint_SECAP 1 Introduction The WP aims at building a common support system in order to increase knowledge for deeper analysis concerning climate issues, targeting and focusing on relevant policies and measures already planned in each selected target area; the support system will be useful to improve the management and effectiveness of Joint Actions for climate change adaptation plans. The WP activities are designed in a two-fold cooperation: a horizontal coordination within other municipalities that operate in adjacent areas and present the same needs of implementation of climate and energy interventions; vertical coordination within territorial authorities of different level, overcoming the difficulties of the institutional fragmentation of competences. The context analysis is to collect information and resources that will be used during the other activities of the project and is considered as the knowledge-base of data to learn and disseminate values of each territorial context. The activity A.3.2.1 investigates all existing policy, plan (SEAPs) and the measure already put in place in each territorial context (district level) with a special focus on energy and climate issues; this phase includes an analysis of funding tools, listing the potential sources or initiatives that will be useful during the implementation phase (WP4). European Regional Development Fund www.italy -croatia.eu/Joint_SECAP 2 1. Target area: Croatia Overview of the national/regional/local context The Republic of Croatia is a member state of the European Union (EU) since 2013 and its energy and climate legislation is aligned with the most relevant EU disposition. In many documents, the European Union has emphasized the need to integrate the management of energy and climate measures to ensure that all activities at EU level and at national, regional and local level can contribute to the objectives of the European Commission (this, for example, is a key principle of the Strategy for the European Energy Union 1published by the European Commission in February 2015). In the case of Croatia, consideringthe small size of the country (compared to other EU member states) with around 4 million inhabitants, most of the services, institutions, and strategies are managed on national level. Regional and local level have limited resources and authorities over decisions that affects climate change actions. A centralized setup dealing with climate change challenges is a fact that cannot be avoided in the assessment of existing strategies, plans, policies and procedures, and funding instruments: the context in which Croatian partners of Joint_SECAP project operate is synthetically shown below. At the County level, the most important plans are: the Air protection program, the ozone layer, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation 2, according to national air protection law, and the County Energy Efficiency Action Plan 3, provided by the Energy Efficiency Act 4. Another document, not specifically aimed at the issues of mitigation and adaptation but which may contain measures in line with them is the County Development Strategy (CDS) 5. Based on the Croatian Regional Development Act (NN 147/14) 6, the County Development Strategy , is the main strategic document at county level for long-term socio-economic development which defines main development priorities and measures for their implementation. At the local level, manyCroatian municipalities within the project area already delivered and are implementing SEAPs and Energy Programs and Plans. Energy Programs and Plans, and SEAPS are similar documents with almost the same specific objectives but with no obligatory integration of the measures and priorities. Both Energy Programs and Plans, and SEAPs have no mandatory implementation indicators, in many cases, however, they are expected. Local authorities are the smallest self-sustained autonomies in Croatia: they can deliver different strategies and plans in line with national and regional policies, and implement them. Municipalities and cities in the project area even try to bring extra benefits for their community by joining the European projects such as the Joint_SECAP Project. At the same time, they are all facing the same issues and challenges – lack of resources and institutional tools to make bigger impact in climate change adoption. Municipalities are rather small administrations that need to outsource most of the expertness to make significant results, and due to lack of resources, municipalities are leaning on support of the national or regional authorities. Financing actions related to both of listed strategies are mostly connected to the resources form the European Structural and Investment fund, and just partly from national resources. The Draft Climate Change Adoption Strategy in the Republic of Croatia for the period to 2040 with a view to 2070 (White Book) 7listed the amount needed for the implementation of the Adaption Strategy, around 3,6 billion EUR out of the State budget foreseen is only 0,23% of total budget. Almost all funding instruments listed by project partners are co-financed by EU funds. The European Regional Development Fund www.italy -croatia.eu/Joint_SECAP 5 processes to fund the actions are models of open call for project. Such approach brings municipalities with lack of resources in unprivileged position for funding projects and dependable on national action plans, priorities, and procedures. Regional government, although with some authority and obligations have limited resources and access to national resources. Context analysis for Croatian area suggest proactive approach of local and regional governments towards national policy makers in order to meet joint objectives, to be constructive partner at local level, and local support in climate changes adaption. a)National level Key document on national level are as follows: 1) Draft Climate Change Adoption Strategy in the Republic of Croatia for the period to 2040 with a view to 2070 (White Book) (2017) The document is a deliverable of the project Strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Environment and Energy for adaptation to climate change and preparation of the Draft Climate Change Adaption Strategy 8by beneficiary Ministry of Environment and Energy. This document, valid until 2040 and with an overview until 2070, is being approved. It deals with the assessment of adverse impacts of climate change, taking appropriate adaption measures to prevent or reduce the potential damage they may cause; it selects priorities and propose implementation strategy and funding instruments. It includes an action plan for implementation, to be defined, along with measures and priorities. The Adaptation Strategy proposes a total of 81 measures within ten selected sectors: Hydrology, water and sea resources management; Agriculture; Forestry; Fisheries; Biodiversity; Energy; Tourism; Health; Spatial planning and coastal area management; Risk management. Possible indicators for monitoring the impact of the measures in the Adaptation Strategy are divided according to the selected sectors. The associated funding to this document are: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 9, Cohesion Fund 10 , European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) 11 , European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) 12 and The European Social Fund (ESF) 13 . 2)Draft energy Development strategy till 2030 with the view to 205014 The preparation of the Energy Strategy is an obligation under the Energy Act (OG 120/12, 14/14, 95/15, 102/15, 68/18) 15 . For the purposes of developing the Energy Strategy, analytical backgrounds have been prepared (the so-called Green Paper) presented to the professional and interested public at workshops held in November 2018. The Green Paper contains elaborated targets for the use of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, the internal energy market and energy security, which will upon final adoption be integrated into the final version of the Low-Carbon Development Strategy 16 (until 2030 with an outlook to 2050), presented in this document. The Croatian Government in October 2019 adopted a new national Energy Strategy that be valid until 2030, with projections until 2050, which envisages increasing renewables’ share in gross final energy consumption to 36.4%