The awareness of climate change and an evolving energy market lead us to look for urgent solutions. This challenge is both interesting and indispensable, considering the commitments of the European Directives n. 28 and 29 of 2009 concerning the promotion of renewable energy and GHG reduction by 2020 respectively. In this context, the use of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is interesting in the agro-zootechnical sector and could play an important role in the ‘green economy’ as it may represent a key technology to minimize environmental impact and produce renewable energy. This paper intends to assess, using literature reviews, the overall environmental impact of biogas production system, which themselves depend on many factors. The use of AD reduces greenhouse gases, through the CO2 decrease, from the fuel replacement by generated biogas, from the avoided CH4 emissions, from animal effluent storage, N2O emissions from soil application of zootechnical waste and improved plant availability of the nitrogen in the manure. However, it is also necessary to identify and determine what mitigation measures (Best Available Techniques-BAT) should be provided to minimize potentially adverse impacts.

Over the last decades the energy and environmental policy of the European Union (EU) has been concentrated on the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) deriving from the growing use of fossil fuels, by adhesion to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and through the approval of the Climate and Energy Package in 2008, which defines the strategic goals for the decrease of these substances by 2020. It is to be noted that, in the EU, a large amount of GHG has been released into the atmosphere from cities, also due to the increase in their energy demand. For this reason, the European Commission has shown great interest in the environmental sustainability of cities and it promoted, on 21 June 2011, the Smart Cities and Communities initiative for proposals addressing the deployment of integrated sustainable energy technologies (smart mobility, buildings, grid, etc.) in urban areas. These initiatives will provide valuable technology input to the Covenant of Mayors, as well as build on its Signatories’ Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP), which is one of first initiatives concerning a GHG reduction of 20% by 2020 in cities. In this context this paper aims to analyse the different EU technologies and initiatives (CONCERTO, CIVITAS and Covenant of Mayors) and so address making the production and use of energy in urban areas more sustainable and efficient, focusing on the potential benefits forecast for some municipalities in the Apulian Province of Foggia, the first area in Southern Italy which has adhered to the Covenant of Mayors and elaborated a SEAP.

Il presente volume nasce dall’esigenza di comprendere l’importanza dell’innovazione sociale nel settore agricolo. Le criticità del comparto, emerse soprattutto nel Mezzogiorno d’Italia, impongono l’implementazione di un modello di sviluppo economico innovativo, in grado di incrementare principalmente il tasso di istruzione e il ricambio generazionale, e di realizzare una agricoltura “digitale” e sostenibile. L’innovazione sociale, che si basa sul soddisfacimento di bisogni collettivi richiesti “dal basso”, si caratterizza per la capacità di aumentare il capitale sociale, di essere auto-sostenibile dal punto di vista economico e di promuovere una filiera “colta” e non solo “corta”. I modelli, sviluppatisi negli ultimi anni in alcune regioni del meridione, e riportati nello studio (Rural hub - Campania, Agrinetural - Basilicata e Vazapp – Puglia), rappresentano di certo esempi di best practice, diversi fra loro, ma simili nell'aver introdotto un percorso concreto di innovazione sociale in agricoltura.

Abstract. The “Covenant of Mayors” (CoM) is an initiative of the DG for Energy of the European Commission. It was started in 2008, with the aim of reducing Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) by 20% by 2020 through the implementation of adequate actions taken in agreement between the European Commission and the municipalities (so called signatories), which intend to adhere. The actions are identified and listed in the “Sustainable Energy Action Plan” (SEAP), which each signatory must produce within one year from adhesion and submit to the European organisms for formal approval and consequent accession to financial tools to implement them. A total of 36 (out of 61) municipalities of the province of Foggia subscribed to the above-mentioned agreement in 2010 and, one year later, submitted their SEAPs to the validation of the experts of the Joint Research Centre - Institute of Energy (JRC-IE) of the European Commission. All the submitted SEAPs were formally approved in July 2012. This work reports on the methodology the authors used for the elaboration of the SEAPs and the achieved results.

Cities are mainly responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere and thus for climate change. The European Union (EU) set up a series of strategies and policies to facilitate the elaboration of climate change mitigation and adaptation of urban plans. To do this, it is necessary to measure the city's GHG emission level. The Urban Carbon Footprint (UCF) and its derivation, the Relative Carbon Footprint (RCF), represent the most appropriate tools for obtaining this important information. The present paper applies these indicators to a small city (150 000 inhabitants) located in Southern Italy, a novelty for academic studies, which usually concentrate on megacities. The study focuses only on CO2 emissions, as these represent 90% of the total GHGs released in urban areas. The findings showed that in 2015 the total UCF was equal to 288 ktCO2, specifically deriving from electricity and natural gas consumption. Moreover, Residential, Industry and Tertiary are the most carbon-intensive economic sectors. The RCF was equal to 0.30; the city emission levels were lower than the national average. Therefore, the municipality represents a typical “net-consumer” community, dominated by homes with territorial emissions due to consumption and characterized by a low number of industries and an average income per capita that is 50% lower than the national one. Starting from these results, the study proposed an urban action plan according to the EU mitigation and adaptation policies. This plan could help the local government improve its environmental sustainability, even if more public city-level data is required for a more comprehensive analysis. Finally, it would be more appropriate for all actions to be aligned under a unique policy process to seize the opportunity to link the various local intervention policies from different fields, taking into account their existing funding, tools, processes, and resources. Capitalizing on the adaptation/mitigation connection will allow municipalities to leverage their climate change action efforts and accelerate progress toward their climate and energy goals.