Reggio Emilia infoday, 17 February 2021 - "Businesses as strategic actors to combat climate change"

Make "Businesses strategic actors to combat climate change". This is the title, but also the objective, of the meeting organized by the Municipality of Reggio together with the E35 Foundation as part of the European project CityAdap3, which was held on Wednesday 17 February 2021 at 4 pm on the Zoom platform and saw the participation of almost 40 participants.

The meeting presented opportunities for public-private collaboration as part of the strategy of adaptation to climate change of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia in a win-win logic.

Through the involvement of companies, businesses and start-ups in the framework of the project, the Municipality of Reggio Emilia intends to build and promote cooperation models between local economic actors and institutions for the co-development of environmental pilot actions to combat climate change.

The Municipality will therefore launch a working group to build a path of comparison and co-planning together with businesses and local economic actors and implement pilot actions that can then be enhanced and promoted in dialogue with other European realities, institutions and companies. In Reggio Emilia, one of the first actions implemented, and on which the Municipality is seeking alliances with the private sector, deals with urban forestry interventions for the contrast of urban heat islands.

The meeting was attended by the Councilor for Environmental Sustainability Carlotta Bonvicini and the Councilor for Trade and Historic Center Enhancement Mariafrancesca Sidoli on "The role of cities and businesses in combating climate change". Roberto Badalotti of the company Til - Integrated Transport and Logistics also presented the company’s environmental policies and its participation in the CityAdapt3 project.

Following the infoday, 22 bilateral meetings with local companies were held to present in detail the opportunities for participation in the project working group.