Energy communities, CEI consultancy to parishes and dioceses. The Alba and Treviso cases

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There are over one hundred energy communities ready to launch in Italy, promoted and participated by parishes, dioceses and ecclesiastical foundations. Different models: from projects built in concert with the territory to those that pivot precisely around the diocesan world. Different times and state of progress but a single objective: to offer a concrete, albeit not exhaustive, response to energy poverty. An idea that took shape already in 2015, with the Encyclical Laudato Si’ by Pope Francis, and which sees in the new legislation relating to renewable energy communities a way to contribute to the fight once morest climate change and reduce the cost of bills for families in economic difficulty.

The attention of the Catholic world on these issues is high, already in 2021, during the 49th Social Week of Italian Catholics, the slogan came to life: “An energetic community for every parish”, a commitment never denied and which has translated, in 2022, in the birth of a Technical Table established at the General Secretariat of the Italian Episcopal Conference, which involves the National Office for Social Problems and Work, the National Office for Legal Problems, the Bursar’s Office and Administration, Caritas Italiana and the scientific and organizing committee of the Social Weeks of Italian Catholics.

«The energy issue is strategic from various points of view – comments Alessandro Caffi, manager for Financial Management and Special Projects of the CEI –, from the environmental to the political, up to the social, with the emergency represented by energy poverty. The energy communities are a tool of the ongoing transition that we are promoting, as are the collective purchasing groups, not only by individual parishes, but also through the support of multiple dioceses together. The technical table on Cers was created with the dual objective of studying the legislation in greater depth and offering an orientation service to the bodies involved”.

Energy communities, how CEI support works

The orientation service is proposed to parishes and dioceses as an operational support, useful for the various projects that are emerging across the national territory. «In smaller municipalities these initiatives arise from a local dimension, involving the community – comments Caffi -, the case is different in large cities, where the dioceses have a broader role, we also work on models that can be adapted to the territory. From an economic point of view, each reality follows different models, some dioceses proceed with their own resources, others communicate with banking institutions. The careful analysis of the technical and economic feasibility it is one of the priorities indicated by our table.”

The activities linked to the orientation service range from regulatory consultancy to support in the management of various projects. The response of the territories to the CEI’s proposals was positive. Energy communities become an expression of collaboration and union even between different actors present in the area, from parishes to associations, through local authorities and private foundations.