Sustainable Urban Energy Study Tour to Bolzano, Italy

As of 2025, Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has suffered $20 billion US in damage, causing widespread power outages and insufficient heat supply – with the cities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv alone accounting for over 630 million in losses (UNDP, 2025). While emergency efforts have focused on rebuilding existing capacity and fossil fuel capacity replacements, this approach can overlook the need for more resilient and sustainable local energy solutions.

To this end, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Autonomous Region of Bolzano in Italy are jointly organizing this international study trip to support capacity building of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv on integrated urban energy planning focused on decentralized and renewable local energy and modern district heating systems. This study visit is facilitated by the UNEP programme “Unlocking greener and more resilient energy in Ukrainian cities”, supported by the Italian Development Co-operation (AICS), and by the UNECE programme UN4UkrainianCities. Additional support to the study visit is provided by the NOI Technopark (Bolzano, Italy), Alperia (Bolzano, Italy), and EURAC Research.