ACCTING aims to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal. Read our report on all 693 mapped initiatives.

Pedalling for a greener city

Salvaciclisti is a dynamic initiative focused on promoting cycling as a sustainable transport option for urban travel in Rome. Founded in 2015, it aims to create “cyclable, demotorised cities” where cyclists can move safely without road violence. The project collaborates with citizens, businesses, and local administrations to advocate for more bike-friendly urban spaces. 

Driving change
Salvaciclisti actively works to expand Rome’s bike lanes, ensuring they are safe and well-maintained. They organise awareness-raising events, bike rides, and educational workshops to foster a culture of cycling. Their BICIBUS initiative introduces new cyclists to urban cycling, with experienced riders guiding participants. They also campaign for the reduction of road space for cars, promoting a more balanced and inclusive use of city roads. 

Reaching the vulnerable 
The initiative focuses on all citizens, especially those who cannot afford private transport, with particular attention to economically disadvantaged groups. Salvaciclisti’s work helps ensure that cyclists—particularly those relying on bikes as their primary mode of transport—can safely navigate the city’s streets despite the lack of adequate public transport. 

Learn more about this inspiring initiative

More inspiring initiatives

ACCTING aims to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal. Read our report on all 693 mapped initiatives.

Connecting workers, saving the planet 

JojobRT is a real-time carpooling service that aims to make commuting more sustainable and cost-effective. By offering tailored carpooling solutions for employees and companies, JojobRT helps reduce the environmental and economic impacts of daily transport. The app allows users to share their home-to-work commutes, providing a reliable and eco-friendly alternative to private car use. 

Innovative solutions for companies and territories 
JojobRT works closely with businesses and public bodies to create custom carpooling services. Leveraging government regulations, the company helps organisations meet sustainability targets by providing detailed environmental impact data. This includes a specialised module for businesses to monitor CO2 reductions and include these metrics in their sustainability reports. 

Empowering users and fostering community 
The service benefits both employees and employers, with individuals saving on commuting costs while contributing to reduced CO2 emissions. Women make up a significant portion of the users, with many expressing that the shared commute helps reduce stress and build stronger relationships. Companies enjoy reduced absences, better parking management, and the ability to meet sustainability requirements. 

A company with a purpose 
Founded in 2011, JojobRT became a Benefit Corporation in 2019 and was certified as a BCorp in 2021, reflecting its commitment to high standards of social and environmental performance. With a growing presence in Italy and Spain, the company now works with over 200 organisations, aiming to build long-term value by combining profit and positive societal impact. 

Building a greener tomorrow 
Since its inception, JojobRT has already saved over 2.4 million kg of CO2, equivalent to planting over 122,000 trees. By continually innovating to meet post-pandemic mobility needs, JojobRT remains a leader in corporate shared mobility, offering a flexible and sustainable solution for companies and employees alike. 

Learn more about this inspiring initiative

More inspiring initiatives

ACCTING aims to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal. Read our report on all 693 mapped initiatives.

A walking bus for sustainable mobility and integration

The Piedibus project, initiated in 2009 in Caserta’s Acquaviva district, offers a creative solution to promote sustainable mobility while supporting the integration of asylum seekers and refugees. This walking bus helps children safely travel to and from school on foot, guided by volunteers and local residents. The initiative is not only an eco-friendly alternative to cars but also fosters community engagement and inclusivity. 

A greener way to school
The Piedibus operates like a traditional school bus but with a sustainable twist—it’s powered by walking. The routes are planned each year, with fixed timetables and stops, ensuring children safely arrive at school. Along the way, children and volunteers identify urban issues, such as broken pavements or unsafe crossings, which are then reported to local authorities for improvements. 

Empowering refugees through participation
The project offers a unique opportunity for refugees and asylum seekers to integrate into their local community. Volunteers, many of whom are refugees, take on roles as ‘drivers’ and ‘controllers’ in the Piedibus. This voluntary involvement provides them with a chance to improve their language skills, build social connections, and actively contribute to the local area, fostering greater intercultural understanding. 

Impacting lives through collaboration
With support from local associations, schools, and the Municipality of Caserta, the Piedibus project has flourished over the years. In 2019, it engaged 200 families and 120 volunteers, 30% of whom were refugees. The initiative has not only enhanced mobility in a neighbourhood with severe traffic problems but also created lasting positive change, such as employment opportunities for some participants within the local reception system. 

Learn more about this inspiring initiative

More inspiring initiatives

The impact of climate change and the capacity to mitigate its negative impacts are unevenly distributed across and within societies; it is the poorer, marginalised and vulnerable groups who are the most acutely affected. ACCTING has collected 358 narratives via individual interviews in 13 European countries to capture some of the experiences of those vulnerable groups. These narratives on inequalities in enablers and hindrances for advancing behavioural change span eight thematic research lines – each addressing an EU Green Deal policy area. Read our dataset including all 358 narratives collected.

Veronica, an educator with two children, fights for a change of values

“My name is Veronica and I am an educator of almost 46 years old. I work in sustainable mobility and outdoor education. I have two children, one 15 years old and one 12 years old, who live half time with me and half time with their dad. Throughout my life, I have had different lifestyles.

I was born in a large city in central Italy and I come from a very peripheral neighbourhood (a working-class suburb), and until university, I took the bus and mostly the moped, because it was faster. Then I moved to this area and I stopped using the moped after a bad accident. I then started to use the bicycle and continued to do so when I moved to the centre of the city. At the time, I didn’t have the same conviction I have today. Even though I come from a very environmentally conscious family and years of scouting, I still thought the car was the quickest way of transport. When I moved back to the suburbs and the children were born it was difficult because I had to take them to kindergarten and there was no alternative for me. In the suburb where I lived, taking the bus with strollers and materials to transport was very difficult, so I was always in my car for an average of four hours a day. A very tiring life in which I was paralysed in traffic.

“I had a very local idea of travelling in the city and still believed that the car was the fastest way to get around”

 Then I went to live in the Netherlands and Sweden and for nine years my life changed completely. I lived in cities where it was possible to choose different forms of sustainable transport and I gave up using my car. With COVID, I decided to return to my city in Italy because I saw the potential for change and I chose this neighbourhood again because there was a train stop and cycle path nearby. 

I am a big believer in the 15-minute city and I try, as a freelancer, to concentrate my professional activities in the neighbourhood. All my work and my routine are very much intertwined with cycle activism. I always use the bike, but sometimes, given the infrastructure we have, in bad weather or when I am very tired, I move around either by metro or by train.

“I recognise that I am a different person today after living in Northern Europe”

 I got a very light bike because that way I can load it onto public transport when I come back very late at night or to go on holiday. Train delays are frequent but they are getting better. The problem is that it’s difficult to load the bike because the train is always very full. In addition, I happened to find bus drivers who wouldn’t let me get on with my bike even though I was allowed to, or underground stops that are not equipped to carry bikes. Even though I know it is against the rules, sometimes I still take my bike on the escalator because otherwise I would have to get on or off three stops earlier or later. I also used car sharing through my work cooperative and I often use dedicated apps. When I am with the children, we only move around by bus or bicycle. I have always encouraged them to do so by showing them the concrete possibility of moving around in a sustainable way. The first child also moves around on his own, but to get to the bike path from home takes about 1 km and the road is very busy and I don’t trust drivers. Sometimes I feel my children are in danger in traffic: a feeling I didn’t have when I lived abroad, where I was even more in harmony with my children. But since we returned here, my oldest son has been complaining that it is difficult to use his bike in the city and asks to be driven by his grandparents. He has a heavier load of books and he doesn’t see many classmates with bikes around him. He is often ashamed when I take the cargo bike and sees my fight for the use of bicycles instead of more polluting vehicles as a demand.

“It’s not easy because as a mother I take the risk that something might happen to my son”

The problems that can occur on the road are potholes, glass puncturing inner tubes, risks related to the behaviour of motorists, and the fact that institutions do not take these risks on board: there is a lack of pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, 30 zones (areas where the speed limit is 30 kilometres per hour), signposting, road maintenance, etc. Even with regard to safety, the situation is tragic. There are areas without lighting where I don’t venture onto the cycle path: I’ve encountered wild boars and once a person threw a glass bottle at me at night as I was passing. My neighbourhood isn’t very quiet, but these problems don’t limit my cycling even at night. If I lived in another neighbourhood, I might have more problems. Moreover, here, compared to other Italian cities and European countries, people don’t feel they belong to a community of cyclists, and I feel as the alien, as everyone tells me. It’s dangerous and frustrating, and I know that you do take the risk even if I try to convince parents and children that it can be done.

I see the road as something that belongs to us, to cyclists, to pedestrians. The institutions and the local police don’t defend us enough or are very absent in our city on this, so we, the cyclists, have to do it by setting an example, by being seen physically and risking our lives. Then here also pedestrians are not used to cyclists on the cycle lane and think that you only cycle for fun and not to go to work, etc. So I often find myself having to stop and ring the bell and find reactions back from people saying ’It’s not just for you, cyclists. Where do we walk?” I even had to fight in my apartment building to be able to park my bike. In my neighbourhood, people mainly use the car alone, even for short distances out of fear of risks, laziness, and because there is an inability to reflect on the fact that the car is not the fastest or safest means of transport. It is comfortable but stressful and expensive, and we need to break this routine. Walking or cycling is not as attractive as having a new mobile phone. People think that buses are not well connected, they are late, they are dirty and there is a fear of COVID. The metro would change a lot, but it still doesn’t take you everywhere, and the change would still have to be in the values along with the improvement of the infrastructure. Here the car is a status symbol to get recognised, while using transport or the bicycle is seen as lame. There must be a commitment on the part of the municipality. For example, we demand the Bike to School service from institutions like the bus school. It’s a culture that needs to be changed, starting with working with children and the younger generation.”

More inspiring narratives

The impact of climate change and the capacity to mitigate its negative impacts are unevenly distributed across and within societies; it is the poorer, marginalised and vulnerable groups who are the most acutely affected. ACCTING has collected 358 narratives via individual interviews in 13 European countries to capture some of the experiences of those vulnerable groups. These narratives on inequalities in enablers and hindrances for advancing behavioural change span eight thematic research lines – each addressing an EU Green Deal policy area. Read our dataset including all 358 narratives collected.

In Italy, a family micro-enterprise pursues energy saving and recycling

“My name is Federica, and I am a 40-year-old entrepreneur. I am married and have a four-year-old son. I graduated in medicine and surgery, but a year later, I came down with a lung disease that will make it impossible for me to enter a hospital for the rest of my life. I, therefore, had to ‘reinvent’ my life. I took a second degree in business economics, and then I did a specific course which was of no use to me; because what ‘really’ means to be an entrepreneur I then learned from reality. I think that trade associations, however, should improve their support to enterprises. After several jobs, all with fixed-term contracts that never lasted more than a year, but anyway very useful, I decided to start my own business with my husband. We started with nothing. We bought a truck with promissory notes. We proceeded in small steps by investing everything we had.

Now, we are a micro family enterprise where my husband and I work, with just one employee. We are in the process of hiring a second one to replace the one who was there and we had to dismiss due to theft. We deal in the recycling of metal/recyclable materials (aluminium, steel, copper, brass, iron, bronze) and intermediation of non-hazardous waste (paper/cardboard, wood, plastic/pvc, aggregates). The company was established seven years ago. We have a fair turnover. We have obtained several certifications that are very important for us. We have a warehouse and a truck for transporting materials. The warehouse is rented out and will have to be decommissioned within a few years because with the expansion of the close urban area, it is now in a residential area. We had asked the owner to install solar panels to power our machinery (the cost is around €3,000 per month), but as the roof would have to be redone, he refused. For these two reasons, we are looking for a new warehouse to move into. We intend to buy it and then run it as we see fit. We will certainly install solar panels in the new warehouse. We have already identified an appropriate site. However, moving in the new warehouse will take two years/two and a half years, also because it takes a long time to obtain authorisations for our activities. In 2019 we replaced the old, outdated lighting system with a new-generation LED system, which is more efficient and consumes much less energy. We also replaced the old truck with a Euro 5 truck that consumes less fuel. We have purchased machines that serve to reduce the debris and thus allow more of it to be brought in, saving further fuel. We also try to organise transport in such a way that, as far as possible, there are no trips where it goes empty. For the material that is transported to our shed, we have set up a booking system on our website to avoid as much as possible the trucks queuing with their engines running, wasting fuel. Finally, we have digitalised all our transactions to avoid paper consumption and we have nearly eliminated plastic. We want to improve ourselves further, moving to the new site, further improving the production process with more space, better machinery (4.0) and being a company that recycles and reuses materials suitable for someone else’s production process. Something completely different from what the old scrap dealers used to be. To a large extent we already are.

“I think that enterprise associations should do more to help entrepreneurs”

We have not made use of incentives or financial contributions in the past, but we hope to do so in the future, even though these are often costly practices. Once we tried in the past and had to spend 2,000 Euro for a consultant, but then (although we scored excellently) we did not get the financing. There would also be calls related to the circular economy that would be interesting, but we are too small. We would have to get together with others, which is difficult, as we are competitors. Alone we do not have the strength. Looking at the other companies, I see a clear break. There are important companies that have adapted to the circular economy while, unfortunately, most of the micro-enterprises, like ours, are struggling to fit into this new context. 60% because of ignorance and 40% because of lack of will. A lack of interest, not a lack of competences. In the same sector of my enterprise, there are mostly people who have been doing a similar job for at least two or three generations and have the same way of doing things, often also using very polluting means of transport and do not care about energy efficiency. They probably save money by doing so at present; but soon they will be at a crossroads: either they will adapt or they will have to stop their activity. With these micro-entrepreneurs there are often discussions, but then everyone goes their own way. With suppliers and customers, we try to be as helpful as possible by meeting their needs (e.g., regarding payment timeline or transport arrangements; we are also competitive because we are willing to buy the materials for recycling assembled – and not already divided – and then we can sort them ourselves). However, we are uncompromising about the way we work, including the rejection of cash payments (in black) and we have lost a lot of clients for this reason. In the end, this pays off. 2020 was a very tough year. We benefited from a subsidy of 25,000 Euro against the many (much higher) costs we had to bear with production stopped for a few months. But in 2021 we achieved a higher turnover than in 2019. However, it is not a good time, due to price volatility and the difficulty in selling our ‘product’ (due to Covid, plus the economic crisis, and war). With great difficulty, we are able to keep our suppliers, even buying large quantities of material to prevent it from being sold to someone else, and we have to keep it before we can process it and then manage to sell it. Now, finally, bit by bit, we are selling.

“Most of the micro-entrepreneurs working in the same sector as me do not care about energy efficiency and environmental issues in general”

In the future, I hope my company will grow (having from 7 to 10 employees) by benefiting from the latest-generation machinery and with very few emissions. My culture and my family have been very important. They taught me humility, and a willingness to learn, which have been indispensable in my entrepreneurial life. I am passionate about it; I study various issues personally (including legal aspects). First, there are ethical aspects, and then comes energy efficiency and the environment. Finally, I am the same person at home as in the enterprise. And the house is already mine and I am already in the process of installing the solar panels.”

More inspiring narratives

The impact of climate change and the capacity to mitigate its negative impacts are unevenly distributed across and within societies; it is the poorer, marginalised and vulnerable groups who are the most acutely affected. ACCTING has collected 358 narratives via individual interviews in 13 European countries to capture some of the experiences of those vulnerable groups. These narratives on inequalities in enablers and hindrances for advancing behavioural change span eight thematic research lines – each addressing an EU Green Deal policy area. Read our dataset including all 358 narratives collected.

Luigi, Italy, lives independently in an energy community

“My name is Luigi, I am over sixty years old and I am retired. I was an inmate and lived in a psychiatric hospital, then in a shelter and finally in an independent flat. I have two children, who live in another city and visit me when they have time.

For many years I knew that a foundation was building these ecological houses where I live now, and that I could go there when they were ready. These houses are built of brick, with straw inside, to insulate them, and they have solar panels on the roof. There is an accumulator that stores the energy for when the sun is out. In the summer, there is a lot of energy, and a transformer sends it into the public electricity grid, while when we need energy we can take it from the same grid and so what we earn and what we spend is compensated. I’ve been living here for three months now and I’m very happy because the house is bigger than the one I was in before, it’s more spacious, and we pay very little for electricity. We practically only pay for water and the tax for garbage. In the house where I was staying before, I went as far as paying bills of 90 and even 130 euros, whereas here, since I arrived in August and it is still quite warm, I have never had to pay for electricity.

When I joined the Foundation’s project years ago, before the little houses were ready, they gave me a course to be a cook and I worked in the kitchen. I also took a cook’s exam. Then, after a few years, they told me about the energy community and told me that the houses were ready and that I could have one.

“They told me I would be living there, but it took almost ten years in the end. I said, Let’s hope I’m still alive by then! If I am still here, I would certainly be very glad.”

These houses are like our own. We pay taxes but don’t pay rent. They are ours for life, even if we get to live a hundred years. But when we are gone, they will become someone else’s. The Foundation has other projects like this in other cities. This is a project that embraces the whole region. They go around checking that everything works and that all the people are well. So, we are not alone, because we are part of this Foundation and we are partners. As an obligation, for me, who no longer works, I only have to do my own shopping, make my own food and keep the house clean and tidy. We are free people, and we could also marry and bring another person to live here, for example, if we wanted to. Then they help us if we have any problems. I, for example, once broke my mobile phone and had to buy a new one. I spent 200 euros, so I asked if they could lend me 50 euros. They gave it to me and said they wouldn’t take it back, and to let them know if I needed money from time to time.

There cannot be a better place for me to live than here. With my social pension of EUR 650 a month I could not pay rent, pay the bills, maintain the car and feed myself. But I can now because I don’t pay rent or electricity. So, I have about 100 euros a month left in my pocket and I can do some small expenses for myself.”

More inspiring narratives

The impact of climate change and the capacity to mitigate its negative impacts are unevenly distributed across and within societies; it is the poorer, marginalised and vulnerable groups who are the most acutely affected. ACCTING has collected 358 narratives via individual interviews in 13 European countries to capture some of the experiences of those vulnerable groups. These narratives on inequalities in enablers and hindrances for advancing behavioural change span eight thematic research lines – each addressing an EU Green Deal policy area. Read our dataset including all 358 narratives collected.

Bernardo, 69, Italy, believes in the contribution of disabled people in tackling environmental disasters

“My name is Bernardo, and I am 69 years old. I have been retired for two years and worked in the software and IT industry. In the course of my life, I lost sight first in one eye and then in the other and have been blind since 1990. I have always lived in a city in central Italy, and when I was young, before I started losing my sight, I was a scout and then a volunteer in the services of municipal associations. As a result, I am very familiar with the topography and toponymy of the city and the social and health structures and organisation of the municipality. I used to volunteer in rescue associations, which in those days was a tradition for all young people in town. I still deal with social and health services both in associations for the blind and visually impaired and by collaborating with municipal and regional social and health volunteer associations for the elderly and/or disabled. I live with my wife, while my daughter lives elsewhere in the city. In the last period of absolute blindness, I always need someone to help me carry out my daily tasks.

“There are wounds after years that are no longer visible, but they remain in the testimonies and, for instance, even in the plaques that testify where the water level in the town reached”

In 1966, I experienced the flood as a child. At the time, I was already in the scouts, so we were engaged to help people who had been left with flooded water both in their homes and workplaces. So I already saw in my youth the scenarios that remain after a flood of that magnitude and the consequences that linger after years. There are neighbourhoods in the city that for years had scaffolding or dampness that never cleared up, and in homes, and even entering shops, you could smell mould. At the time, I had no losses in my family due to the flood except for the house of a few relatives who could no longer use it. We took them in and helped with the minimal restoration of living conditions in their houses. I remember that the perception was not immediate for those who had not really been flooded, so much so that I always remember my mother grumbling at me because I wanted to go to the centre to see what had happened, and she said to me: ‘Put on your good clothes, because when you go out, you have to dress properly’. And instead, there were people washing their hands with wine from bottles because there was no water.

Then, having always worked in association groups, I have a fairly resilient outlook. I always try to find ways to solve the most critical issues, and above all, knowing the consequences, I have a very special focus on prevention. Others often don’t understand that you always have to expect the worst when prevention means putting yourself in a position precisely to live better. I have verified this even more with absolute blindness because knowing what can happen and how to prevent it sets your life in such a way that you then deal with the problem when it comes without stress and without the disorientation that could upset you. This also means being able to organise one’s life in an orderly way, and blind people, in particular, are an example of order and discipline, both in terms of organising spaces and paying attention to possible dangers.

“There are personal habits that have to be trained and in this case having a disability trains you to be able to recognise certain signs and be better prepared than others”

Even in the workplace, in the warehouse, this served to influence my colleagues in a positive sense: I needed to move between shelves and work benches and, with my observations, some things were changed and suspended loads or protruding elements or stumbling blocks were eliminated. It came down to the notion that if things were built or adapted as well as possible so that I didn’t take risks, everyone would live better, because injuries are unpredictable, but they can be prevented if you don’t create the conditions for them to occur. The heritage and experience of people with disabilities should teach to believe in one’s own possibilities and rely on oneself without being afraid to ask for help if some things cannot be done alone. This approach helps to deal with unforeseen situations such as a scooter or an electric car passing by, and you don’t hear them because they are silent. So, even when you think you are in a safe condition, there is always the unexpected that is not calculated. Society is born in the young, so it is the school and other educational agencies that must present models of behaviour that children do not currently have. At school, there should be the specific subject of sustainable behaviour imposed precisely as necessary for society. There should be an awareness that everyone has to make their own contribution of knowledge but also of concrete actions, starting for example with the use of single-use plastic. Even if the feeling is that individual contributions fail to affect the whole of reality, because many do not contribute, we must insist on the discourse of reuse and non-waste of food and materials.

“We must be aware that nature always wins out over us. We must not be conceited, but understand that events can happen and the only way is to study, educate and prevent the most serious consequences. Individually, we do not perceive the change that is possible as a community”

Other experiences with climate change concern the seasons, which no longer exist. The fruits of the soil are available every month of the year, and even temperature is now an uncontrollable element. The change is real, and we no longer know whether we will be able to slow down this change. I am worried about environmental disasters because the trend is more and more pronounced, with more and more concentrated events of ever-increasing power. Certainly, the land is not built to withstand these extreme events, and above all, I worry about the next generations because either cities are rebuilt from the ground up taking these aspects into account, or it will always be a cry over what has been lost. For example, the reconstruction of earthquake centres is a bit of a contradiction in the sense that it makes no sense to rebuild in the same place without more complex planning just because the community has to maintain what it had before. You have to be ready for change because keeping what it was leads to experiencing again what happened. Today, communication is accessible, so what used not to happen with us we see happening all the time in other countries such as tornadoes or tsunamis. It can always happen here in Italy too.”

More inspiring narratives

Photo: Julia Koblitz on Unsplash

ACCTING aims to understand the impact of Green Deal policies on vulnerable groups, prevent inequalities, and produce knowledge and innovations to advance behavioural change at individual and collective levels for an inclusive and equal European Green Deal. This bottom-up initiative was collected by Marina Cacace, Gabriele Olivati and Francesca Puglies within ACCTING’s mapping of inspiring practice cases, within the Clean Energy Research Line. Read our report on all 693 mapped initiatives.

Speranza Cooperative, Italy

Accelerating the clean energy transition

Speranza Cooperative, an Italian organisation based in Candiolo, in the province of Turin, operates in the zoo-technical industry and offers its goods directly to the public. It has a prominent role in the region as it contributes to the environment and the circular economy enabling the reuse of residues and waste. Along with generating meat and milk, the project has long been involved in the field of sustainable energy for years.

A successful initiative

The initiative installed two biogas plants called Ecomax®10 BIO cogeneration systems. This innovative solution converts animal and agriculture waste into power and heat. The amount of electrical power and thermal energy generated by these pants is eight million kW/ annually 70% of it goes to the local centre for cancer research. Also, the project recently integrated an agricultural biomethane plant that transforms agricultural waste into liquid sustainable fuel, aiming at producing 2,000 tons annually.

Find out more here.

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