Renewables

Energy communities, here is the CEI vademecum for parishes and dioceses

The document was drafted by the Technical Table of the Italian Bishops' Conference. Seventy pages to answer all regulatory questions

by Daniela Russo

23 May 2024

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Key points

The vademecum
The social benefits of Cer
Roadmap

3' min read

More than seventy pages, subject to constant updates from a regulatory, market and pastoral point of view, four chapters and a space dedicated to important recommendations: the Italian Episcopal Conference (Cei) has presented "Renewable Energy Communities: Ethical, Technical, Economic and Legal Elements for Religious Bodies". The vademecum, produced by the Technical Table on Renewable Energy Communities (Cer) of the Italian Episcopal Conference (Cei), is intended to be a guide for all parishes, dioceses and religious bodies ready to play an active part in the energy transition, with the main objective of combating energy poverty.

The vademecum

In addition to providing general information and suggesting useful tools and methodologies for local churches and religious bodies, the text proposes a veritable road map for setting up a CER. The in-depth study of the theme of Energy Communities, starting from the motivations that led the Church to deal with it within the broader reflection on the care of Creation inspired by the Encyclical Laudato si', is flanked by the presentation of the regulatory framework, possible organisational models and the process that concretely leads to the creation of a Renewable Energy Community.

There are three key concepts to summarise a choral work, according to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference: 'Community, in its broadest sense, which includes everyone and is the starting point, energy poverty and ecological transition. There can be no authentic economic development without ensuring its long-term sustainability, including the environmental dimension. At the same time, environmental concerns cannot and must not translate into a new form of marginalisation of the poor and the marginalised'.

The social benefits of Cer

Renewable Energy Communities represent a decisive step towards energy transition in an integral ecology perspective, embracing environmental protection, justice in economic and social relations, and care for the human person and communities.

The vademecum focuses on the benefits of Cer. Social, environmental and economic benefits. Rebuilding communities and combating energy poverty (the inability of a household to ensure a sufficient level and quality of domestic energy services for its social and material needs) are the pillars of the first aspect. According to the Italian Observatory on Energy Poverty by the end of 2022, there will be about 2 million households in poverty, or 7.7 per cent of the total.

The entry of vulnerable people into a Cer, according to the vademecum, "can be a tool to mitigate energy poverty. For example, this type of set-up allows subjects in a state of vulnerability who would not be able to invest autonomously in renewable source installations, to share in the benefits deriving from the establishment of the Cer itself and potentially to obtain, thanks to virtuous behaviour, compensation for their energy costs without the need to invest personally in the construction of renewable source installations or in energy efficiency interventions beyond their economic possibilities".

In some cases, the social and solidarity character may be the prevailing element of the RECs that, through collective action, set as their primary objective the fight against inequality and energy poverty: these are the Energy and Solidarity Communities.

"To affirm the CER model," comments the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, "we need a strong commitment to information and dissemination: thanks to this vademecum, the social value of renewable energy communities will be even clearer. Religious bodies, the natural recipients of the new forms of incentives, are among the main protagonists of this energy turnaround long awaited by the country'.

Roadmap

There are eight stages in the establishment of these realities that make the territory and the community the major players in the energy transition. From the training, awareness and discernment phase, they move on to the preliminary study phase and finally to the management phase, which follows the construction of the plant.

"Renewable Energy Communities have social as well as economic and environmental purposes. The support that can come from religious bodies is to be welcomed. - says Paolo Arrigoni, president of Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (Gse) -. The RECs also represent an important measure to counter energy poverty: they can allow dioceses not only to allocate economic resources to families in difficulty, but also to improve parish places dedicated to sociality'.