Policy Updates

On December 2, 2023, at COP28, Italy signed a Memorandum of Understanding underlining future climate cooperation between Italy and Ethiopia, which committed approximately EUR7 million (US$8 million) from Italy's Ministry of Environment and Energy Security to projects for CO₂ reduction and climate adaptation.

The signing occurred during a meeting between Italian Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto-Fratin and Ethiopian Minister of Planning and Development Fitsum Assefa.

On December 2, 2023, the EU institutions, the EIB, the EBRD, and the Member States that comprise Team Europe pledged EUR20 billion (US$21.8 billion) for clean energy partnerships with African partners.

The funding announcement listeed EUR3.4 billion (US$3.7 billion) in grants and covered the period from 2021-2027. The project, AEGEI, aims to produce over 50 Gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.

12 EU Member States contributed to the funding. No language regarding specific partner countries was included in the announcement.

On December 1, 2023, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attended the Global Stocktake high-level panel on adaptation at COP28 and announced that Italy will contribute EUR100 million (US$109 million) to the Loss and Damage Fund benefitting nations most vulnerable to climate change, a figure that surpassed the pledges of both Germany and the UAE and equalled that of France.

Meloni stated she will work to double adaptation finance by 2025, as committed at COP26 in 2021. She emphasized the essential role of MDBs in climate finance and highlighted the need for reform, stressing that the G7 will play a key role.

Meloni also attended the high-level segment for Heads of State and Government. She announced that Italy would continue to support the GCF in the next cycle and confirmed previous commitments totaling EUR300 million (US$328 million).

On November 27, 2023, the Italian Parliament adopted a COP28 resolution, signed by 19 Italian MPs from all parties in the majority coalition, committing to 0.7% ODA/GNI with half of ODA dedicated to tackling climate change.

MP Piergiorgio Cortellazzo promoted the resolution from the major coalition and the governing Forza Italia, which is the party of Minister of Environment and Energetic Security Gilberto Picchetto Fratin and Vice Prime Minister and Minister of International Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani.

On November 22, 2023, the Italian Joint Development Cooperation Committee approved additional resources to mitigate the effects of war on Ukrainian and Palestinian civilians, totalling EUR17 million (US$18 million) for Ukraine and EUR5 million (US$5 million) for Palestine.

The committee also approved a package of initiatives, including EUR8 million (US$8.7 million) for Africa, focusing on food security, health, education, and training aimed at professional improvement.

Resources for Tunisia were approved at a total of EUR3 million (US$3 million) for 2024, an increase compared to 2023 programming. Italy has emphasized Tunisia as a priority partner.

The committee voted to approve the channeled allocation of EUR998 million (US$1 billion) in funds for development cooperation initiatives in 2024. The allocations detailed:

• EUR537 million (US$586 million) to bilateral cooperation;
• EUR271 million(US$295 million) to emergency funding; and
• EUR190 million (US$207 million) to multilateral cooperation.

The committee also approved a contribution of EUR2 million(US$2 million) for the Balkan region to strengthen disaster preparedness and response capacities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Finally, the Committee gave a favorable opinion on two initiatives proposed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which included:

• Financing projects related to the agricultural and agribusiness supply chain through the West African Development Bank; and
• Refinancing of a line of credit in Latin America and the Caribbean in support of investments in the environmental sector and the fight against climate change.

On November 9, 2023, Italian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Edmondo Cirielli announced an additional US$42 million (EUR39 million) for humanitarian interventions in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and North Africa.

Cirielli signaled that stability of the African continent and the growth of African countries are among the highest priorities of Italian foreign policy.

Ethiopia is slated to receive a contribution for humanitarian projects to be implemented by Italian CSOs (EUR20 million (US$21 million)) and the UN (EUR5 million (US$6 million)). Ethiopia is one of the recipient countries of the International Donors' Conference for the Horn of Africa, which was co-organized by Italy in May 2022 with the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs and the governments of the US, UK, and Qatar.

Italy renewed its commitment to refugees, displaced persons, and host communities in the Sahel, with two contributions to UNHCR approved to the populations of Burkina Faso (EUR3 million (US$4 million)) and Niger (EUR2 million (US$2 million)).

Italy also approved US$1 million (EUR1 million) to UNICEF to respond to the consequences of Storm Daniel, which hit northeastern Libya on September 10, 2023, and US$4 million (EUR4 million) to UNICEF and UNHCR to respond to the February 2023 earthquake in Türkiye and Syria.

On November 3rd, the Italian Council of the Ministries approved the decree that defined the governance and the scope of the four-year Mattei Plan.

The Mattei Plan will aim to strengthen collaborative initiatives between Italy and African states to identify, define, and implement initiatives in the following areas:

• International cooperation;
• Imports, exports, and the promotion of investments;
• Education, R&D, and innovation;
• Global health;
• Agriculture and food security;
• Sustainable supply and use of natural resources, including water and energy;
• Environmental protection and adaptation;
• Modernization of infrastructure, including digital infrastructure;
• Support for entrepreneurship, in particular, youth and women's entrepreneurship;
• Tourism and culture; and
• Prevention and countering of irregular migration and management of legal migration flows.

The decree established a Steering Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as vice-chairman. Included in the committee were other head ministers, the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Made in Italy, the President of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, the director of AICS, the President of the ITA, representatives from Italian MDBs, and representatives from publicly-owned enterprises, universities, civil society, and private entities.

The decree established that the Prime Minister's office would host the secretariat of the Mattei Plan. The secretariat will support the President to implement and coordinate the Mattei Plan and its updates, as well as lead the secretariat of the Steering Committee and prepare an annual report to Parliament.

On October 29, 2023, it was revealed that Italy's 2024 draft budget established a new "Italian Fund for Horizontal Cooperation for Africa" under the auspices of the Mattei Plan, allocating EUR600 million (US$633 million) to the plan through 2026.

The budget draft has been approved by the Council of Ministers and was sent to the Chamber for debate prior to a final vote by the end of 2023. Experts noted that the economic endowment to Africa appears limited compared to the ambitions voiced by Italy in the months preceding the draft's release.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni previously announced that the Mattei Plan will also be funded by the 70% of the resources allocated to the Italian Climate Fund, equivalent to EUR3 million (US$3 million). Management of the fund will fall under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The draft showed that priority funding will be given to projects in the agricultural and solar photovoltaic sectors. It further prescribed the adoption of a regulation that will define the operation of the new fund by November 2023. The draft also called for the adoption of regulations to define the accreditation of entities able to present projects to the government, as well as modalities for ascertaining consumer preferences.

On October 13, 2023, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced during her official visit to the DRC and Mozambique, that 70% of the Italian Climate fund, or EUR3 billion (US$3.2 billion), would be directed to Africa.

Meloni noted that the resources would be used to fund the Mattei Plan, a package of public private initiatives to support development in Africa to be announced in January 2024 at the Italy-Africa Summit. The summit was initially planned for November 2023, but was later postponed.

The opposition, notably the Green Party and the Left, opposed diverting Climate Fund resources to the Mattei Plan.

The Fund is managed by prominent Italian development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, and has a budget of EUR840 million (US$890 million) annually from 2022-2027.

On October 9, 2023, the Italian Joint Committee for International Development decided to raise resources allocated to bilateral cooperation by 60% in 2024, with 25% and 15% of remaining resources for 2024 to be given to emergency and multilateral interventions, respectively.

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani stated that Africa will be the priority areas for Italy. Bilateral projects are slated to focus mainly on income-generating sectors, such as support for startups and SMEs, energy transitions, and vocational training in Africa.

The committee also approved the allocation of more than EUR300 million (US$318 million) in grants to Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Somalia, and the Central African Republic, and in aid credits to Ethiopia. It noted a voluntary contribution to the OECD to establish an investment observatory for Africa.

The committee further approved a EUR180 million (US$190 million) call for proposals for NGOs. 85% of the resources were slated by the committee to be concentrated on projects in Africa.

Tajani noted the approval of an additional contribution to Ukraine and a contribution to the Food Systems Transformation Fund, launched at the UN Summit on Food Systems hosted by Italy in July 2022. The donation was earmarked for the IOM to combat human trafficking and further the voluntary repatriation of migrants and refugees to their areas of origin.

Finally, the committee expressed approval of the Italian development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti's refinancing of two credit lines, which were opened with two MDBs in Africa for up to EUR300 million (US$318 million).