Morbegno 2020

Morbegno, a municipality of 11,000 near the Italian Alps central mountains, had a remarkable awareness about social sustainability and environmental issues, but it didn’t know how to translate that into everyday practices. Citizens wanted better education and they wanted to be leaders in cultural change. Morbegno asked The Natural Step Italy to help create this change. TNS Italy employed a multi-disciplinary team experienced in community change to help create a shared strategy with Morbegno and all its stakeholders; ‘Morbegno 2020’ used the year 2020 to help frame the conversation.

The Natural Step Italy training focuses on the following issues:

• Developing systems-thinking skills amongst participants and a enabling a participative democracy to create their shared vision of a sustainable Morbegno.

• Training on sustainability “talking points” so that politicians, entrepreneurs, teachers can become sustainability champions in their own spheres of influence.

• Creating highly visible early successes to generate enthusiasm for the sustainability program (e.g.. green buildings, energy efficiency, smart mobility).

The project is ongoing and several early successes are visible: Morbegno has been selected as a pilot project by ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities) and will be referenced to guide innovation throughout Italy. The project received funding from the private-bank foundation CARIPLO and the sustainability culture is spreading. Momentum is building with hundreds of experts, teachers, citizens and municipal employees taking part in workshops, tours and other activities. In fact, the entire Sondrio Province (population 178,000) has started working with TNS. Initially we will engage the top 100 opinion leaders in the region.

Morbegno 2020 demonstrates that the fear of emerging global threats can be addressed by creating a local compass for a long-term planning with the TNS Framework.

This summary was written Marco Valente, a 2008 graduate of the Master’s in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability Program in April of 2008.