ID: 2090
Presenting Author: Alfonso Morelli
Session: 674 - Innovation, transparency, and sustainability in Permitting 5.0 through AI
Status: pending
ARPA Umbria certifies ESG impacts through AI-based pre-assessment; Gepafin valorizes these certificates as impact credits connecting environmental performance and sustainable finance.
The Umbria Region is implementing a “Permitting 5.0” model integrating environmental assessment, ESG evaluation, and sustainable finance. Acting as the regional technical authority under Regional Resolution 117/23, ARPA Umbria performs ex-ante impact pre-assessments for both public and private projects through the regional digital platform for impact measurement and evaluation.
This AI-enabled system quantifies environmental, social, and governance performances against the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) criteria and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), generating a certified impact score for each project.
The certified data is transmitted to Gepafin S.p.A.—the regional financial intermediary under art. 106 T.U.B.—which can recognize, valorize, and place the impact credit on financial and permitting markets.
This integration between ARPA’s scientific validation and Gepafin’s financial structuring creates a traceable and verifiable link between measured environmental performance and economic incentives, supporting both public authorities and project promoters in transition planning.
The Umbrian model thus represents a regional laboratory for AI-supported impact governance and ESG-based credit generation, pioneering a new framework for data-driven, accountable, and sustainable permitting processes in Italy.
Alfonso Morelli, environmental engineer and Director General of ARPA Umbria, leads regional monitoring, assessment, and policy support to advance sustainability and environmental governance
Coauthor 1: Paolo Stranieri
Coauthor 2: Marco Vecchiocattivi
Coauthor 3: Giovanni Roccatelli
Coauthor 4: Eleonora Mastroforti