The territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia is characterized by a great variety of environments, from the Friulian Dolomites to the Karst, from the magredi of the Pordenone area to the Collio hills in Gorizia, and extending to the sandy coasts typical of the Po Valley–Veneto area as well as the rocky shores of the Karst regions of Istria and Dalmatia. This mosaic of environments corresponds to a social and cultural diversity. In this context, educational and awareness‑raising activities on environmental issues—carried out by various regional bodies, each operating according to its own modalities—are of great importance.

Within this framework, the University of Trieste (UniTS) adheres to the “Pact for Environmental Education in Friuli Venezia Giulia,” an agreement promoted by the Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA FVG) that involves 17 regional public bodies. Since October 2024, these institutions have begun meeting monthly with the aim of sharing and defining goals, objectives, and actions aimed at developing a network for environmental education in the FVG region.

The Educational Pact represents an operational tool for establishing this network, promoting activities (training pathways, conferences, immersive experiences) designed to increase awareness of Environmental Law, to foster both a local and global perspective on environmental issues, to stimulate critical thinking, and to enhance knowledge of the territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

The initiatives developed within the framework of the Pact are addressed not only to public bodies but also to the general public and the school community.

The UniTS representative is Dr. Elisabetta Pizzul, a researcher at the Department of Life Sciences, who has led research projects over the years on environmental issues, with a particular focus on ecological analyses in freshwater environments.

To educate is to share; therefore, continuous training and participation at various levels in shared planning are essential. A cultural change is necessary, achieved through the activation of synergies aimed at reaching this goal.

The AReTS - Acqua di Rete di Trieste project, provided for

• the installation by the University of 30 micro-filtered water dispensers at the main sites
• an awareness-raising campaign on the conscious use of water resources, in collaboration with the Municipality of Trieste, which has installed its own water house near the campus in Piazzale Europa
• the distribution to freshmen of reusable water bottles with a low carbon footprint.

The project aims to encourage users to drink mains water and at the same time reduce the invasive and excessive use of plastic. The water dispensers are part of the green corner set-up, together with a battery of recycling bins, intended to be points of awareness on environmental sustainability issues on responsible consumption.

The University of Trieste is taking part in the 22nd edition of M’illumino di Meno, the Italian National Day of Saving Energy and Sustainable Lifestyles, which in 2026 focuses on the role of science in the ecological transition.

The name of this switch-off campaign, which literally means ‘I fill myself with less light’, evokes in the Italian reader a famous line from the poem Mattina (morning) by Giuseppe Ungaretti: M’illumino d’immenso (immensity fills me with light).

In line with this year’s theme, M’illumino di Scienza (I fill myself with science), UniTS reaffirms sustainable development as a core value of its identity, integrating teaching, research and good practices to address climate change. Since 2012, under the coordination of the UniTS Energy Manager, the University has implemented structural measures, including a new heating plant replacing fuel oil with natural gas, fully LED-based lighting systems, and photovoltaic installations with a total capacity of nearly 1 MW. Together, these actions have led to an overall reduction of around 40% in energy consumption.

A central role in the University’s scientific work on these topics is played by the Interdepartmental Centre ‘Giacomo Ciamician’, a key hub for energy, environment and transport. The Centre is actively engaged in cutting-edge research, technology transfer, education and support for public and private decision-makers. Its main research areas related to energy saving include renewable energy communities, hydrogen, the integration of electric vehicles with power grids, photovoltaics, and energy storage systems, including battery reuse and recycling, also supported by artificial intelligence tools.

As part of its educational offering, UniTS also provides the Master’s Degree in Engineering for the Energy Transition, a course with a distinctly international outlook whose first graduates are highly anticipated by the job market.

In the lead-up to M’Illumino di Meno, the University also organised the workshop ‘Urban Heat Island and Climate Change: Modelling and Mitigation Policies’, held within the PRIN NRRP project CriStAll (Climate Resilient Strategies by Archetype-based Urban Energy Modelling), with the participation of Politecnico di Torino, the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and the University of Trieste. Alongside an overview of the project’s main activities and results, the workshop presented initiatives carried out in Friuli Venezia Giulia by ARPA FVG, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and ATER Trieste to address challenges linked to rising urban temperatures.

The University of Trieste contributes with its own initiatives to the Festival of Sustainable Development. The Festival is a major event to raise awareness and cultural-political elaboration, spread all over the country, annually organised by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASVIS), a non-profit organisation that brings together in a network more than 300 subjects committed to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Climbing for Climate (CFC) initiative is organised by the RUS- Network of Universities for Sustainable Development in collaboration with the CAI-Italian Alpine Club. CFC also stands for ChloroFluorocarbons, chemical compounds containing chlorine, fluorine and carbon, which, being partly responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, and having a high greenhouse effect were banned from production following the Montreal Protocol of 1987.

This was the first time that nations agreed to defend the earth's climate. Climbing for Climate commits participating institutions to fight global warming by training students, promoting research aimed at the sustainable development of our planet and raising public awareness.

The University of Trieste also joins the initiative annually by co-organising an event in the region.

Within the framework of energy objectives, the University of Trieste has undertaken in recent years a number of initiatives such as:

• participation in the SECAP project, "Support for energy and climate adaptation policies" (Interreg Italy-Slovenia 2018-2022) which aimed at the development of activities, methodologies, support tools for the migration from SEAP (Sustainable Energy Action Plan) to SEAP (Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan) in a cross-border perspective
• participation in the Interreg Italy-Slovenia "MUSE" Project, financed by the European Community, which envisages a series of actions on energy-efficient sustainable mobility. As part of the project, the University has installed a charging station for electric vehicles and bicycles, made available to the academic community. The charging station is powered by an integrated photovoltaic system, located on the roof of the building next to the station, with a storage system that allows the accumulation of solar energy, which is then used as needed for charging
• the development of photovoltaic systems for the self-production of renewable energy
  the drafting of best practices for energy saving.