Carbon Neutrality: the Politecnico kicks off actions to reduce emissions

The Politecnico will achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. This is the ambitious goal set by the Board of Governors of the University. In the most recent Board meeting, the first inventory of the University's emissions and the Decarbonization Plan were presented. To date, it is estimated at least 10 thousand tons of CO₂ produced by the Politecnico from direct and indirect emissions related to electrical and thermal consumption (nearly 80 % of the total), and from staff mobility (nearly 10 %).

The path to reach the ambitious goal of net-zero emissions, 10 years earlier than the "Net Zero" commitments made at the international level, represents a significant challenge for the Politecnico, requiring immediate actions in the short term together with a multi-year plan for reducing direct and indirect CO₂ emissions.

The Board approved the path proposed by the Politecnico's Green Team, which includes a number of immediate actions (e.g., implementation of photovoltaics, installation of LED lights and replacement of windows and doors) as well as a more elaborate plan of actions aimed at increasing the knowledge of CO₂ consumption and production in order to take targeted actions.

“As a University and as a society, we are all experiencing a process of radical technological, environmental and social transformation, whose impacts, even critical ones, are already evident to everyone and affecting all generations, crossing national borders - Guido Saracco, Rector of the Politecnico declared – The Politecnico, a major international player on all the most advanced technological frontiers for many years now, intends to anticipate and support this new transition through an open and shared path making its technical know-how available to society and local communities. We believe that people are the essential element for a new sustainable transition, and therefore we consider essential to face this challenge all together, enhancing technical skills, creative and innovative solutions from an active and a continuous listening. For this reason, in the coming months we will launch ‘calls for ideas’, open to the academic community and our stakeholders, through which we will gather innovative proposals and ideas to contribute to the new Decarbonization Plan. This process will also allow us to enhance our connection with internal as well as external communities, involving and creating value not only for our University but for the entire local context."

“During the past few years, as the Italian Universities Network for Sustainable Development, we have been working on an emissions tracking protocol for universities that proved to be an excellent base to create our emissions dashboard – tell Patrizia Lombardi, Vice Rector for Sustainable Campuses and Communities and coordinator of the Green Team at the Politecnico - Starting from the information gathered, the University can make conscious decisions and develop targeted actions to achieve carbon neutrality and, at the same time, support the difficult process toward climate neutrality of the City of Turin, which is one of the 100 'Mission Cities,' in the European context, becoming a hub for climate experimentation and innovation.”

The initiative is also supported by the General Director of the Politecnico, Vincenzo Tedesco who adds: “The path started will have an impact on all of the University's technical and administrative structures, which are called to collaborate so that all activities of the next years will converge toward the common goal of decarbonization”.