“Decarbonisation is the only way for the Taranto steel plant”

by time news

Time.news – “There is only one way to keep steel production in Taranto and that is the decarbonization of the factory”: this is the comment of the President of the Puglia Region, Michele Emiliano, following the publication in “The Lancet Regional Health Europe” of an article entitled “Health Benefits of Decarbonisation: The Transition of High Coal Consumption Regions in the Framework of the European Green Deal” to bring to the attention of the international community the problem of Taranto and the technological innovations already available that could guarantee the minimization of the impact of the steel plant on the environment and above all on people’s health.

“Puglia has chosen to adopt a scientific approach, as recently confirmed in the press conference for the preview presentation of the study conducted by the World Health Organization at the request of the Region, which reiterated the negative impact of the steel mill on the health of Taranto. ” – continues the president Emiliano – “And this is why we turn to national and European decision-makers from the pages of a prestigious scientific magazine, modeling the experiments already carried out in other countries, to encourage the Government to focus on the decarbonization plan proposed by Puglia Region as the only possible type of industrial plan that would allow the Taranto steel plant – considered by Rome to be a strategic national production – to combine the right to work with that to the health of our citizens “.

The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima) welcomes and supports the vision of the Puglia Region as scientifically founded.

According to professor Alessandro Miani, president of Sima: “Puglia is the first Italian region for carbon emissions due to the presence of the Taranto steel plant and the Brindisi thermal power plant.plants among the largest in Europe for coal consumption and classified by the European Environment Agency in the top-50 of the industries causing the greatest environmental and health damage on the basis of emissions.

There is therefore no alternative to the decarbonisation of these mega-plants given that Italy has signed the European commitments linked to the Paris Accords. and intends to comply with the provisions of the implementation plans of the European Green Deal, supported by the large investments of the so-called Recovery Fund – not surprisingly called “Next Generation EU” because it intends to offer a better future for the new generations – through the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience “.

The huge funds needed for the industrial reconversion of Taranto would not represent a problem thanks to the large European strategic investments.

“Taranto is the only Italian area, together with the Sardinian coalfields, to be included in the beneficiary territories of the JUST Transition Fund, the EU mechanism that collects 19.2 billion euros of direct contributions to the areas where the transition to an economy low carbon emissions could produce the greatest social impacts “, explains Claudio Stefanazzi, economist and Head of Cabinet of the President of the Puglia Region, as well as representative of the Italian Regions in the Steering Committee of the Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the fulcrum of programming policies of EU funds.

“The Puglia Region is already immediately available to share with the Government their research for the definition of an Industrial Plan that represents a new horizon for the sustainable production of steel in Taranto ”, concludes the president Emiliano.

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