Extreme weather is no longer a distant risk in Italy. Floods, heatwaves and storms are already damaging infrastructure and driving up repair costs.
Italy has strengthened the way new public investments are planned. Since 2023, the country has introduced national guidance to ensure new infrastructure projects are built to withstand climate impacts and are aligned with the Europe’s climate neutrality goals.
Why climate proofing matters
Under the EU’s 2021-2027 Cohesion Policy, all the EU-funded infrastructure projects expected to last at least 5 years must be “climate proofed.”
That means they must be designed to cope with current and future climate risks, while avoiding additional greenhouse gas emissions.
Similar rules apply to other EU funding instruments, including the Connecting Europe Facility and InvestEU.
As Europe works towards climate neutrality by 2050, climate proofing has become a practical tool to protect people, the economy, and the environment and to ensure that today’s investments remain fit for the future.
Turning EU rules into practical action
The national guidelines on climate proofing developed in Italy, the first country to adopt detailed guidance on the subject, were prepared with support from EIB Advisory experts under the JASPERS programme. The work was carried out on behalf of the Dipartimento per le Politiche di Coesione e per il Sud and in collaboration with the Ministero dell’Ambiente e la Sicurezza Energetica, the Italian Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate.
The EIB Advisory team helped translate EU requirements into practical steps that public authorities and project promoters can apply consistently across the country.
Our help focused on:
- Developing a clear, user-friendly national guidance document for climate proofing, aligned with EU requirements and adapted to Italy’s context.
- Disseminating the guidelines through plenary meetings organized by the Dipartimento per le Politiche di Coesione e per il Sud, as well as through workshops, webinars and targeted training for regional and national authorities, beneficiaries and project designers.
- Strengthening Italian administrations to assess climate risks, select appropriate adaptation measures, and ensure compliance with climate proofing and the “Do No Significant Harm” principle.
Between June 2023 and May 2025, EIB experts worked with the Dipartimento per le Politiche di Coesione e per il Sud and all Italian managing authorities to discuss the development of the national guidance and its implementation.
More than 2 000 engineers, architects and planners also took part in awareness-raising activities with national professional bodies following a memorandum of understanding between the Dipartimento per le Politiche di Coesione e per il Sud, the National Council of Italian Engineers and the National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservationists. This helped build a shared understanding of climate risks and adaptation measures at national and regional level.
The EIB Advisory team also contributed to the development of a national guidance, promoted by the Ministero dell’Ambiente e la Sicurezza Energetica in collaboration with the Dipartimento per le Politiche di Coesione e per il Sud, to include climate considerations in environmental assessment procedures.
A step-by-step process
The new national guidance sets out a simple process for climate proofing infrastructure projects:
- Screening: identify whether a project may face climate risks or generate significant greenhouse gas emissions.
- Detailed assessment: projects that raise concerns undergo a more in-depth analysis, including climate risk assessment and emissions quantification.
- Adaptation and mitigation: Select and implement measures to reduce risks and emissions, ensuring projects are resilient and aligned with Italy’s and the EU’s climate targets.
The guidance also clarifies how climate proofing fits with other requirements, such as environmental assessment procedures (Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment) making regulatory landscape easier to navigate.
Concrete results
Thanks to EIB Advisory support, Italy has been able to develop a harmonised approach to climate proofing across regions and programmes. This brings several benefits:
- Regional and national authorities are better equipped to assess climate risks and design resilient projects.
- Infrastructure investments are more likely to withstand future climate impacts and contribute to emission reduction goals.
- EU-funded projects can move more quickly from planning to approval.
“Our goal is to provide clear, operational tools and assist with building capacities in a sustainable manner so that every authority can confidently integrate climate considerations into their investments, now and in the future,” says Massimo Marra, Lead Advisor at the EIB Advisory Coordination Division.
The climate proofing guidance is designed to evolve. Italian authorities, with continued support from JASPERS and the European Commission, will update their approach as new data, technologies and climate scenarios develop.
“Building climate resilience is an ongoing process.’’ says Alba Fagnani of the Italian Dipartimento per le Politiche di Coesione e per il Sud. ‘’The guidance provides a strong foundation, but continuous learning and adaptation will be essential to ensure investments remain resilient in a changing climate.”