IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v322y2025ics0360544225013246.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socio-economic implications of implementing a carbon-neutral energy system: A Green New Deal for Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Pastore, Lorenzo Mario
  • de Santoli, Livio

Abstract

Climate change mitigation necessitates the decarbonisation of energy systems, societies and economies. This work investigates the socioeconomic impact of the Italian energy transition, applying a bottom-up energy model for simulating a 100 % renewable energy system and demonstrating its technical and economic feasibility. Investment of 1.2 trillion euros is needed, around 50 billion euros annually, focusing on renewable and sector coupling technologies, hydrogen value-chain, energy infrastructure modernisation, and energy-saving measures. A 100 % renewable energy system would have slightly higher annual costs compared to a fossil fuel-based system under stable prices, but significantly lower costs compared to the recent energy crisis. Same considerations can be made for the overall system cost of electricity production and storage, which is 52 €/MWh by 2050. Decarbonisation costs can be null for gas prices above 30 €/MWh. The employment impact is 1.4 million new jobs, and for each job lost, about three green jobs can be created. Energy transition cannot be considered merely a strategy for modifying the energy system configuration but can represent a plan for a radical transformation of the economy and society. Energy, economic and environmental planning is crucial to steer investments, develop economic sectors, increase employment and promotes a just energy transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & de Santoli, Livio, 2025. "Socio-economic implications of implementing a carbon-neutral energy system: A Green New Deal for Italy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:322:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225013246
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135682
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225013246
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.135682?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simone Abram & Ed Atkins & Alix Dietzel & Kirsten Jenkins & Lorna Kiamba & Joshua Kirshner & Julia Kreienkamp & Karen Parkhill & Tom Pegram & Lara M. Santos Ayllón, 2022. "Just Transition: A whole-systems approach to decarbonisation," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(8), pages 1033-1049, September.
    2. Cameron, Lachlan & van der Zwaan, Bob, 2015. "Employment factors for wind and solar energy technologies: A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 160-172.
    3. Child, Michael & Breyer, Christian, 2016. "Vision and initial feasibility analysis of a recarbonised Finnish energy system for 2050," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 517-536.
    4. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2016. "Smart Energy Europe: The technical and economic impact of one potential 100% renewable energy scenario for the European Union," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1634-1653.
    5. Bellocchi, Sara & Colbertaldo, Paolo & Manno, Michele & Nastasi, Benedetto, 2023. "Assessing the effectiveness of hydrogen pathways: A techno-economic optimisation within an integrated energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PE).
    6. Bellocchi, Sara & Manno, Michele & Noussan, Michel & Prina, Matteo Giacomo & Vellini, Michela, 2020. "Electrification of transport and residential heating sectors in support of renewable penetration: Scenarios for the Italian energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    7. Kelly Sims & Soyoung Oh, 2023. "Job creation and deep decarbonization," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 39(4), pages 765-778.
    8. Ju, Yiyi & Sugiyama, Masahiro & Kato, Etsushi & Oshiro, Ken & Wang, Jiayang, 2022. "Job creation in response to Japan’s energy transition towards deep mitigation: An extension of partial equilibrium integrated assessment models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    9. van der Ploeg, Frederick & Rezai, Armon, 2020. "The risk of policy tipping and stranded carbon assets," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    10. Diego Viesi & Gregorio Borelli & Silvia Ricciuti & Giovanni Pernigotto & Md Shahriar Mahbub, 2024. "Modeling the Optimal Transition of an Urban Neighborhood towards an Energy Community and a Positive Energy District," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-30, August.
    11. Bellocchi, Sara & De Falco, Marcello & Gambini, Marco & Manno, Michele & Stilo, Tommaso & Vellini, Michela, 2019. "Opportunities for power-to-Gas and Power-to-liquid in CO2-reduced energy scenarios: The Italian case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 847-861.
    12. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & Cristiani, Laura & de Santoli, Livio, 2022. "Rising targets to 55% GHG emissions reduction – The smart energy systems approach for improving the Italian energy strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    13. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Siregar, Yudha Irmansyah, 2024. "Pathways towards net-zero emissions in Indonesia's energy sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    15. Halkos, George E. & Gkampoura, Eleni-Christina, 2021. "Evaluating the effect of economic crisis on energy poverty in Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    16. Mr. Simon Black & Antung A. Liu & Ian W.H. Parry & Nate Vernon-Lin, 2023. "IMF Fossil Fuel Subsidies Data: 2023 Update," IMF Working Papers 2023/169, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Ram, Manish & Aghahosseini, Arman & Breyer, Christian, 2020. "Job creation during the global energy transition towards 100% renewable power system by 2050," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    18. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & de Santoli, Livio, 2025. "100% renewable energy Italy: A vision to achieve full energy system decarbonisation by 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    19. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V. & Werner, S. & Möller, B. & Persson, U. & Boermans, T. & Trier, D. & Østergaard, P.A. & Nielsen, S., 2014. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Combining district heating with heat savings to decarbonise the EU energy system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 475-489.
    20. Lund, Henrik & Thellufsen, Jakob Zinck & Sorknæs, Peter & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Chang, Miguel & Madsen, Poul Thøis & Kany, Mikkel Strunge & Skov, Iva Ridjan, 2022. "Smart energy Denmark. A consistent and detailed strategy for a fully decarbonized society," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    21. Hansen, Kenneth & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Skov, Iva Ridjan, 2019. "Full energy system transition towards 100% renewable energy in Germany in 2050," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1-13.
    22. Lund, Henrik & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Connolly, David & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2017. "Smart energy and smart energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 556-565.
    23. Hanxin Zhao, 2024. "The role of green ammonia in meeting challenges towards a sustainable development in China," Papers 2407.07632, arXiv.org.
    24. Ram, Manish & Osorio-Aravena, Juan Carlos & Aghahosseini, Arman & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Breyer, Christian, 2022. "Job creation during a climate compliant global energy transition across the power, heat, transport, and desalination sectors by 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    25. Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Rasoulinezhad, Ehsan & Yoshino, Naoyuki, 2019. "Energy and Food Security: Linkages through Price Volatility," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 796-806.
    26. Hansen, Kenneth & Breyer, Christian & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Status and perspectives on 100% renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 471-480.
    27. Mastini, Riccardo & Kallis, Giorgos & Hickel, Jason, 2021. "A Green New Deal without growth?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    28. Mariana Mazzucato, 2022. "Financing the Green New Deal," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 93-94, February.
    29. Thellufsen, Jakob Zinck & Lund, Henrik & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Sorknæs, Peter & Nielsen, Steffen & Madsen, Poul Thøis & Andresen, Gorm Bruun, 2024. "Cost and system effects of nuclear power in carbon-neutral energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    30. Zhao, Hanxin, 2024. "The role of green ammonia in meeting challenges towards a sustainable development in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    31. Lund, Henrik & Hvelplund, Frede, 2012. "The economic crisis and sustainable development: The design of job creation strategies by use of concrete institutional economics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 192-200.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Groppi, Daniele & Feijoo, Felipe & Lentini, Alessandro & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & Astiaso Garcia, Davide & de Santoli, Livio, 2025. "Long-term decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial thermal demand for 100 % renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & de Santoli, Livio, 2025. "100% renewable energy Italy: A vision to achieve full energy system decarbonisation by 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    2. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Groppi, Daniele & Feijoo, Felipe & Lentini, Alessandro & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & Astiaso Garcia, Davide & de Santoli, Livio, 2025. "Long-term decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial thermal demand for 100 % renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    3. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    4. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & Cristiani, Laura & de Santoli, Livio, 2022. "Rising targets to 55% GHG emissions reduction – The smart energy systems approach for improving the Italian energy strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    5. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Groppi, Daniele & Feijoo, Felipe & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & Astiaso Garcia, Davide & de Santoli, Livio, 2024. "Optimal decarbonisation pathways for the Italian energy system: Modelling a long-term energy transition to achieve zero emission by 2050," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    6. Lund, Henrik & Thellufsen, Jakob Zinck & Sorknæs, Peter & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Chang, Miguel & Madsen, Poul Thøis & Kany, Mikkel Strunge & Skov, Iva Ridjan, 2022. "Smart energy Denmark. A consistent and detailed strategy for a fully decarbonized society," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. Ahmed, Faraedoon & Foley, Aoife & McLoone, Sean & Best, Robert & Lund, Henrik & Al Kez, Dlzar, 2025. "Sectoral coupling pathway towards a 100 % renewable energy system for Northern Ireland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    8. Christensen, Toke Borg Kjær & Lund, Henrik & Sorknæs, Peter, 2024. "The role of thermal energy storages in future smart energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    9. Thure Traber & Franziska Simone Hegner & Hans-Josef Fell, 2021. "An Economically Viable 100% Renewable Energy System for All Energy Sectors of Germany in 2030," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-17, August.
    10. Sgaramella, Antonio & Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & de Santoli, Livio, 2023. "Optimal RES integration for matching the Italian hydrogen strategy requirements," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    11. Osorio-Aravena, Juan Carlos & Aghahosseini, Arman & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Caldera, Upeksha & Ghorbani, Narges & Mensah, Theophilus Nii Odai & Haas, Jannik & Muñoz-Cerón, Emilio & Breyer, Christian, 2023. "Synergies of electrical and sectoral integration: Analysing geographical multi-node scenarios with sector coupling variations for a transition towards a fully renewables-based energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    12. Potrč, Sanja & Nemet, Andreja & Čuček, Lidija & Varbanov, Petar Sabev & Kravanja, Zdravko, 2022. "Synthesis of a regenerative energy system – beyond carbon emissions neutrality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    13. Pastore, Lorenzo Mario & Lo Basso, Gianluigi & Sforzini, Matteo & de Santoli, Livio, 2022. "Technical, economic and environmental issues related to electrolysers capacity targets according to the Italian Hydrogen Strategy: A critical analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    14. Hussain, Syed Asad & Razi, Faran & Hewage, Kasun & Sadiq, Rehan, 2023. "The perspective of energy poverty and 1st energy crisis of green transition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    15. Lu, Bin & Blakers, Andrew & Stocks, Matthew & Do, Thang Nam, 2021. "Low-cost, low-emission 100% renewable electricity in Southeast Asia supported by pumped hydro storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    16. Chang, Miguel & Thellufsen, Jakob Zink & Zakeri, Behnam & Pickering, Bryn & Pfenninger, Stefan & Lund, Henrik & Østergaard, Poul Alberg, 2021. "Trends in tools and approaches for modelling the energy transition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    17. Osorio-Aravena, Juan Carlos & Ram, Manish & Aghahosseini, Arman & Breyer, Christian, 2025. "Evaluation of employment effects during the transition of the Chilean energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    18. Thellufsen, Jakob Zinck & Lund, Henrik & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Sorknæs, Peter & Nielsen, Steffen & Madsen, Poul Thøis & Andresen, Gorm Bruun, 2024. "Cost and system effects of nuclear power in carbon-neutral energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    19. Ram, Manish & Osorio-Aravena, Juan Carlos & Aghahosseini, Arman & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Breyer, Christian, 2022. "Job creation during a climate compliant global energy transition across the power, heat, transport, and desalination sectors by 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    20. Kılkış, Şiir, 2024. "Urban emissions and land use efficiency scenarios for avoiding increments of global warming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:322:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225013246. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.