ITALIAN UTILITIES PROGRAMME LOAN

Financing of utilities in Italy under a Programme Loan. Sectors include waterworks (water and wastewater), electricity distribution, district heating, energy efficiency measures (including public lighting), renewable energy generation and waste collection/treatment facilities.

The proposed Programme Loan (PL) aims at addressing the investment needs of small and medium-sized utilities operating in the water, energy and solid waste sector, throughout Italy. In particular, the following investments are expected to be financed under the PL: (i) electricity and water distribution networks; (ii) wastewater collection and wastewater treatment schemes; (iii) waste collection, recycling, treatment and disposal facilities; (iv) district heating facilities and co-generation plants; and, (v) municipal public lighting for energy saving purposes.

The sub-operations under the Programme Loan are expected to have minor environmental and social impacts. More specifically, the investments in water, wastewater and waste are expected to have net positive environmental and social impacts, considering their focus on compliance with amongst others the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/271/EEC and the Waste Framework Directive 2018/851/EC, and their contribution to resource efficiency from recycling. Where and if applicable, the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive 2014/52/EU amending the EIA Directive 2011/92/EU, the Habitats and Birds Directives (92/43/EEC and 2009/147/EC, respectively) will be respected and the Bank will publish the non-technical summaries of the EIAs on its website. Potential environmental and social impacts of the individual projects: the required authorisation processes including checking alignment with Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU and other EU legislative acts, in particular for potential power or heat generation plants, will be assessed as part of the Bank's appraisal process.

The Bank will require the promoters to ensure that contracts for the implementation of the sub-operations will be tendered in accordance with the relevant applicable EU procurement legislation (Directive 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU, where applicable as well as Directive 92/13/EEC and 89/665/EEC) as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the Official Journal of the EU, as and where required.