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Italy and Italian municipalities: SECAP School

Avatar: Official proposal Official proposal

SECAP School (PAESC School) consists of integrating schools into local Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAP), transforming them into active civic nodes within municipal climate governance.

Implemented at national scale in Italy, the initiative responds to rising temperatures, environmental inequalities, and limited youth participation in local decision-making. Rather than treating schools as isolated educational institutions, SECAP School positions them as climate shelters and democratic spaces embedded in the urban fabric.

The practice begins with teacher training on climate adaptation, environmental identity, and participatory governance, supported by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) and the network of EU Climate Pact Ambassadors coordinated through EuCliPa.it. Students are engaged through workshops, visual didactic activism, photo elicitation, and co-design processes directly connected to municipal SECAP priorities.

Through structured dialogue with local authorities, students develop concrete proposals addressing territorial climate needs. In Monza, Northern Italy — one of the most densely populated areas of the country — a student proposal for the transformation of the city's main market square into a climate-responsive public space was formally accepted by the Municipality and is scheduled for implementation. In Desio, a municipality that had not yet adopted a SECAP, the school’s engagement and student initiative prompted the local administration to begin the procedure to join the Covenant of Mayors and initiate the SECAP adoption process. In Poggibonsi (Tuscany), the Deputy Mayor publicly endorsed the SECAP research pathway. In collaboration with a local EU Climate Pact Ambassador (a medical pulmonologist), the municipality is now developing a climate–health strategy, including green corridors in the city and the exploration of “green prescriptions” as part of a preventive public health approach. These examples demonstrate that SECAP School operates through concrete collaboration, institutional recognition, and co-implementation with local authorities, strengthening participatory democracy and embedding youth engagement within municipal climate governance.

The practice is monitored through pre- and post-surveys, focus groups, and the Index Anima Loci (de Maurissens, 2026), measuring place-based civic attachment and ecological responsibility.

By combining ecological transition with democratic participation, SECAP School strengthens environmental identity, intergenerational accountability, and measurable climate adaptation. It contributes to institutionalizing youth engagement within local governance, supporting the development of future climate shelters and the experimentation of participatory budgeting processes for students within municipal climate strategies.
Learn more: https://www.indire.it/progetto/patto-dei-sindaci-ue-giovani/

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Italy and Italian municipalities: SECAP School

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