Green houses, government studies two-way tax bonus. Pichetto: 'Objectives impossible to achieve'

"We will also try to stay within those targets but, however much the text of the directive has improved, we have to be realistic. For us they are difficult targets, indeed, let's even say impossible'. It is Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin who emphasises without hesitation that the green homes directive needs "time and money" and that on the 2030 and 2033 targets set by Brussels despite Italy's vote against the new directive is not feasible on the real estate of Italians. In an interview with the Corriere delle Sera, the head of the ministry made it clear that Italy will "set to work on the National Building Renovation Plan envisaged by the European directive, but will do so with a view to the final European targets of 2050 on climate change".

To support the enormous economic effort that the directive imposes on Italian property owners, the minister and the government itself have already indicated a possible course of action by including it in the recently approved Economic and Financial Document. For Pichetto, the possible way forward is to resort once again to the tax lever, but in a controlled manner to avoid the distortions of the Superbonus. How then? 'For taxpayers with high incomes,' the minister explains, 'a deduction with a rate to be defined could be introduced. For those with low incomes, another system is needed. Even with a direct contribution from the state. For public buildings, we could involve the ESCOs, companies that finance the interventions and keep the energy savings for a while, and use the Conto termico of the Gestore dei servizi energetici (Gse)'.

In the annex to the DEF prepared by the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security (Mase), the guidelines of the new intervention to support energy efficiency interventions in buildings are outlined. In particular, the Mase writes that in order to meet "the challenging objectives for the residential sector at 2030 and 2050 envisaged by the new EED and EPBD directives (called Green Homes) and the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (Pniec), a general reform of tax deductions is expected to be implemented, which will address the redevelopment of existing residential buildings with an integrated and efficient approach and overcome the current fragmentation of the various deductions currently active. Basically, in the goiverno's intentions there is the idea of 'an integrated approach' that 'would make it possible to optimise the timing and costs of redevelopment of a building, favouring in-depth redevelopment work with a view to sustainability in various areas: that of energy, in terms of efficiency, production of energy from renewable sources and electrification of consumption; that of the digitalisation of buildings and dialogue with other infrastructures such as transport; that of safety with reference to seismic aspects and fire prevention; that of environmental protection with reference to the reduction of water consumption and the use of green spaces".

For Minister Pichetto, it is therefore a matter of starting 'very careful selection work' and to do so, he emphasises, 'I have already given a mandate to the working group set up for the Plan, which will then be agreed with the Minister of the Economy. Even with the derogations, an immense number of interventions remain to be made'. There is, however, the resource issue as well as Italy's peculiarity with respect to the rest of Europe: "70% of Italian buildings are over 70 years old. Potentially those affected by the directive are millions. We will do what is possible and compatible with public finance balances'.