LIFE18 PRE/IT/003

Final Report
Covering the project activities from 03/12/20181 to 03/05/2022
Reporting Date2
03/08/2022

LIFE PROJECT NAME or Acronym

Vegetation for Urban Green Air Quality Plans (VEG-GAP)

Data Project
Project location:
Project start date: 03/12/2018
Project end date: 03/12/2021 Extension date: 03/05/2022
Total budget: 1,666,667€
EU contribution: 1,000,000€
(%) of eligible costs: 60

Data Beneficiary
Name Beneficiary: ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy
and Sustainable Economic Development)
Contact person: Mrs Mihaela Mircea
Postal address: Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129 Bologna, Italy
Telephone: +39 0516098350
E-mail: [email protected]
Project Website: www.lifeveggap.eu

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Project start date
2
Include the reporting date as foreseen in part C2 of Annex II of the Grant Agreement
 This table comprises an essential part of the report and should be filled in before submission
Please note that the evaluation of your report may only commence if the package complies with all
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Package completeness and correctness check

Obligatory elements ✓ or N/A
Technical report
The correct latest template for the type of project (e.g. traditional) has been followed and all ✓
sections have been filled in, in English
In electronic version only
Index of deliverables with short description annexed, in English ✓
In electronic version only
Mid-term report: Deliverables due in the reporting period (from project start) annexed ✓
Final report: Deliverables not already submitted with the MTR annexed including the Layman’s
report and after-LIFE plan
Deliverables in language(s) other than English include a summary in English
In electronic version only
Financial report
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statement of each Individual Beneficiary) is the same as in the technical report with the exception
of any terminated beneficiary for which the end period should be the date of the termination.
Consolidated Financial Statement with all 5 forms duly filled in and signed and dated ✓
Electronically Q-signed or if paper submission signed and dated originals* and in electronic version (pdfs of
signed sheets + full Excel file)

Financial Statement(s) of the Coordinating Beneficiary, of each Associated Beneficiary and of each ✓
affiliate (if involved), with all forms duly filled in (signed and dated). The Financial Statement(s) of
Beneficiaries with affiliate(s) include the total cost of each affiliate in 1 line per cost category.
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Agreement / across the different forms (e.g. figures from the individual statements are the same
as those reported in the consolidated statement)
Mid-term report (for all projects except IPs): the threshold for the second pre-financing payment
has been reached
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cost for durable goods)
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€ in the budget)
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In electronic version only
*signature by a legal or statutory representative of the beneficiary / affiliate concerned

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 Table of contents
1. List of keywords and abbreviations………………………………………….……… 4

2. Executive summary………………………………………………………………….……… 5

3. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..……… 7

4. Administrative part………………………………………………………………….……… 9

5. Technical part………………………………………………………………………….……… 12

5.1 Technical progress, per action………………………………………………….……… 12

5.2 Main deviations, problems and corrective actions implemented…… 32

5.3 Evaluation of Project Implementation ………………………………………….. 33

5.4 Analysis of benefits..………………………………………………………….… ……… 37

6. Key Project-level Indicators…………………………………………………………… 38

7. Comments on the financial report………………………………………………… 38

7.1 Summary of Costs Incurred……………………………………………………….…… 38

7.2 Accounting system………………………………………………………………..………… 39

7.3 Partnership arrangements……………………………………………………………… 42

7.4 Certificate on the financial statement……………………………………………. 42

7.5 Estimation of person-day used per action………………………………………. 44

8. List of attachments………………………………………………………………………… 45

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1. List of keywords and abbreviations
AB Advisory Board
AMS-MINNI Atmospheric Modelling System of the Italian project MINNI
AQMS air quality modelling systems
AQPs Air Quality Plans
AXX_AnnexYY Annex number YY for action A number
BVOC Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds
BSOA Biogenic Secondary Organic Aerosols
BEF Basal Emission Factors
CRF concentration-response functions
CTM Chemical Transport Models
DXX_AYY Deliverable number XX for the action A, B or C number YY
ES Spain
GIS Geographic Information System
IP Information Platform
IT Italy
MXX_AYY Milestone number XX for the action A, B or C number YY
NBS nature-based solutions
NO2 nitrogen dioxide
O3 ozone
PM10 particulate matter: inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10
micrometers and smaller
PM2.5 particulate matter: inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5
micrometers and smaller
PSEM Plant-Specific Emission Model
VEG-GAP IP VEG-GAP Information Platform
SC Steering Committee

Partners abbreviations:
ENEA Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico
sostenibile, coordinator of the VEG-GAP project
CREA Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria, partner of the
VEG-GAP project
MEEO S.r.l- Meteorological and Environmental Earth Observation, private company partner
of the VEG-GAP project
CDM Comune di Milano, partner of the VEG-GAP project
MCBO Citta' Metropolitana di Bologna, partner of the VEG-GAP project
ARIANET ARIANET S.r.l., partner of the VEG-GAP project
UPM Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, partner of the VEG-GAP project
MAD Ayuntamiento de Madrid, partner of the VEG-GAP project

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2. Executive Summary
For the first time, the VEG-GAP project developed a strategy for providing new reliable
information in support of designing urban Air Quality Plans (AQPs) considering the urban
ecosystems/vegetation characteristics and provided a quantitative assessment of
simultaneous contribution of vegetation ecosystems both as a source and sink of air
pollution in urban areas (1); of urban vegetation ecosystems' effects on air temperature
(urban heating and cooling patterns) (2) and of its further impact on air quality (3) for the
most relevant pollutants for human and vegetation health: PM10, NO2 and O3. In order to
test the robustness and feasibility of the proposed approach, the project activities were
carried out for three European cities: Bologna (IT), Madrid (ES) and Milan(IT). The three
cities having different features such as extension, population, human activities, urban
morphology, vegetation characteristics, etc., have been selected to ensure as much as
possible the coverage of different peculiarities relevant for vegetation and air pollution
interactions. Objectives 1 and 2 led to results shown in the deliverables of Action 4 while
for objective 3 the results are available in the deliverables of Action 5. Some results of
Action 4 are also available through VEG-GAP Information Platform (IP)
(https://veggaplatform.enea.it/) realised by Action A6, in two versions, BASIC and
ADVANCED, that are for public and professionals, respectively. The Information Platform
also shows some of the outcomes of Action A3 such as maps with the distribution of urban
vegetation fraction and the most abundant trees species present in a pre-selected pixel on
the map as percentage of the total vegetation.
Maps with distribution of urban heating and cooling as well as of air quality induced by
vegetation were produced with air quality modelling systems (AQMS) that include
meteorological and chemical transport models. To overcome model uncertainties due to
their intrinsic formulation in achieving the three project objectives, two AQMS were used:
one for Italian cities (AMS-MINNI) and one for the Spanish one. Both modelling systems
are used for estimating measures included in Air Quality plans, in particular AMS-MINNI
is assessing air quality at national level every five years according to Legislative Decree
Dgl. 155/2010 as requested by Air Quality Directives and evaluate national AQPs in
support to NEC Directive according to Dgl. 181/2018.
As in the case of AQPs, VEG-GAP evaluated the effectiveness of vegetation for air quality
and temperature control by showing the difference between an AQMS simulation with
actual vegetation and a simulation without vegetation for present vegetation and between a
simulation with future vegetation scenario and present vegetation for future vegetation.
Thus, these project results are perfectly fitted to the new tendencies of cities to develop
together Air Quality and Climate Change plans as for example Madrid and Milan
municipalities. In case of Madrid Municipality more than one future vegetation scenario
has been evaluated. While the results for present vegetation can be seen on the BASIC IP,
the results for future vegetation scenarios are available on the ADVANCED IP which is
accessible through a self-registration procedure. VEG-GAP results highlight the need to
plan and evaluate together the implementation of nature-based solutions and of measures
to reduce anthropogenic emissions of pollutants. The increase of urban vegetation alone
showed both positive and negative impacts on air quality due to non-uniform distribution
of emissions and vegetation in the urban area; in some areas, the decrease of pollutants’
concentrations due to removal by dry deposition can be exceeded by the increase due to the
reduction of atmospheric dispersion because of adding new vegetation.
Other cities may apply easily the VEG-GAP approach following the five guidelines
available at https://www.lifeveggap.eu/filesharer/documents/VEG-GAP%20Guides. The

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results may be hosted under request on both BASIC and ADVANCED VEG-GAP
Information platform.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation happened during the project implementation that
completely changed the way of working; due to the fact that municipalities did not have
vegetation scenarios ready at the beginning of the project but also due to the complexity of
VEG-GAP project, the high interdependency of the actions, often two-ways interactions
and with multiple iterations, some deliverables and milestones were delayed. However, the
prolongation of the project lifetime with five months (Amendment No. 1) allowed to realise
all the deliverables and milestones as initially foreseen.
The project results were disseminated/communicated and the feedback received during the
project events were considered: nine workshops and three conferences organised in the
three investigated cities under B1 action coordination, four demonstrative days - one of
which in Rome, in addition to the three cities coordinated by B2 action and three
networking events under the coordination of B3 action. Through the website and the social
pages (Facebook and Twitter), at the end of the project more than 25,000
people/stakeholders were reached and more than 500 followers were achieved. The VEG-
GAP video uploaded on YouTube channel and accessible from the website
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuqUX-0GX10&t=12s as well as the book entitled
“Vegetation for urban green air quality plans: a new approach from the VEG-GAP project”
(www.lifeveggap.eu/docs/[oa]%201-070%20Valeria%20Stacchini%20-
%20Vegetation%20for%20urban%20green%20air%20quality%20plans.pdf), not initially
foreseen in the project, are informing about the project objectives, tools, etc. and are also
educational resources. Three scientific papers were published (Ciccioli et al, 2022 in press;
de la Paz et al., 2022; Fares et al., 2020) and other three/ are in preparation. The
dissemination&communication activities had also led to tens of media appearances,
articles, press release about project activities and results. Besides, the partners participated
at many external events presenting the project as can be seen in the outcomes of B1 action.
The networking activities were developed at three levels: European (LIFE and non LIFE
projects), local projects and local working group. Bilateral meetings with other
projects/initiatives were organised in addition to the foreseen project networking meetings
and more details are provided in the outcomes of action B3.
The project provided through outcomes of action A1 an overview of previous projects and
initiatives regarding the relationships between air pollution and vegetation. To date, no
other project investigated in a comprehensive and integrated way as VEG-GAP the impact
of vegetation on meteorology and air quality, considering the formation of secondary
pollutants such as ozone (O3) and secondary inorganic and organic aerosol that is an
important part of PM (up to 70% in the North of Italy for example).
A2 action investigated the possibility to use the satellite data for describing the urban
vegetation characteristics. The Sentinel-2 data were used together with information from
tree inventories provided by municipalities. This method offers the advantage to take into
account the overall urban vegetation which includes public and private properties but it
identifies only a limited number of species.
A3 tested a method to reconstruct rural and urban forest cover, with tree species detail, to
support emission estimate, meteorological and air quality modelling. The vegetation maps
have been used to estimate biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds for present
situation and future vegetation development plans.
A5 assessed the possible risks and benefits for human health and ecosystems themselves
associated with air pollution changes induced by vegetation/ecosystems changes, based on
the model results generated in action A4 by analysing the changes on air quality standards
and also through the application of specific assessment international methodologies.

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 The management of the project was based on the decisions of the SC which, in turn,
considered the AB suggestions. Quick decisions were based on the contribution and the
consensus of all the partners through surveys. The exchange of information between the
partners through emails, phone calls and virtual meetings was continuous.
The five guidelines produced by VEG-GAP project support the transferability and
replicability of project approach and results. This is also facilitated by the AirVeg Open
Source software (https://gitlab.com/simularia/veg-gap/airveg) developed in the project
(A4) for assessing vegetation impacts from AQMS outputs. The IP was also built to be able
to host any European cities data under request in its own language.

3. Introduction
Vegetation ecosystems represents an important part of urban environment, with a
recognised importance for physical and psychological health, social cohesions,
biodiversity, etc., but not for its specific contribution to urban thermal regulation and urban
air quality. The local governance authorities and policy makers lack of relevant
information on the amount of vegetation, which species/type to use and how to distribute
them in order to maintain or improve air quality in urban areas. By 2050, six billion people
will live in cities leading to significant effects on climate change (cities are responsible for
~75% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions), air quality and human well-
being. Urban vegetation represents an opportunity thanks to its capacity to cool the air, to
filter harmful pollutants from the air and to act as a carbon sink. Nevertheless, vegetation
may also emit a range of gaseous substances (volatile organic compounds such as isoprene,
monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, methanol, acetone, aldehydes,
etc.) that take part in photochemical reactions leading to the production of ozone (O3) and
particulate matter the “so-called” Biogenic Secondary Organic Aerosols (BSOA). VEG-
GAP aimed to provide evidence and incentivize the consideration in a more
comprehensive way of vegetation ecosystem in the spatial structure of the city (urban
development open space and land-use planning) as measures in the short and long term
AQPs finalised to improve air quality (avoid new pollution hot spots, decrease air pollution
levels, etc.) and urban climate (reducing temperature and improve urban wellbeing by
greening the streets, roofs, etc). Before VEG-GAP, there had been many attempts to
evaluate the effects of vegetation on air quality using ground-based measurements and data
from satellites and drones, etc. In some cases, single tree models or empirical
parametrizations were used to estimate the removal of pollutants from the air. The major
drawback of these approaches is that the removal process is applied to a measured air
concentration which includes already the effect of this process, and the estimations can be
made only at sites where measurements are available. In addition to that, these approaches
cannot estimate the impact of the biogenic emissions on air concentration and, in particular
of the biogenic emissions associated with urban vegetation ecosystems, since the measured
concentrations of pollutants such as O3 and PM10 are results of complex non-linear
physical and chemical interactions of substances emitted by a multitude of sources under
various meteorological conditions. Other studies evaluate the ecosystems/vegetation
services in removing of air pollutants based on modelled concentrations of pollutants
which already undergone removal processes. Both approaches, based on measured or
modelled concentrations, are double counting the removal processes since they estimate
the pollutant deposition using air concentrations that already undergone deposition.
Another drawback of these approaches is that in spite of having more details on plant
structure and physiology, and, sometimes, increase spatial resolution data on vegetation
ecosystem spatial distribution, both the single tree models or empirical parametrizations
are not able to provide a realistic quantification of ecosystems’ impact on air quality since

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they are not taken into account all atmospheric processes, all emissions and meteorological
conditions and their changes due to vegetation as it was done in VEG-GAP project.
The overall effects of urban vegetation/ecosystems are always comprised in an undisclosed
way in the air quality studies based on environmental measurements (European
Environmental Agency’s air quality data, EMEP data, etc) and in the air quality studies
based on Chemical Transport Models (CTMs) which are the core of Air Quality Modelling
systems (AQMSs). The latter are the only tool able to preliminary estimate the outcome of
specific measures included in AQPs supporting thus the policy makers in identifying
effective actions in terms of air quality management.
The VEG-GAP project had considered in detail the vegetation effects on temperature and
O3, NO2 and PM10 concentrations that are interdependent through nonlinear chemical and
physical atmospheric processes, depending on the same anthropogenic and biogenic
emissions and same meteorology, taking also into account the peculiar characteristics of
vegetation such as plant species, seasonal variability of their biological activity,
geographical location, etc. The land cover, as well as all the other data and processes, were
consistently considered from European to local scales, up to 1km2 spatial resolution in the
three cities investigated: Bologna, Madrid and Milano. By using two AQMS, AMS-
MINNI (Italy) and WRF SMOKE-CMAQ (Spain), both modelling systems used in support
of national and local policy makers, VEG-GAP produced databases, maps, and
assessments of vegetation ecosystem effects on urban heating/cooling, its relationship with
air pollution, human and vegetation health for the three partner municipalities. These
outcomes are available both for present and for future vegetation scenarios. The project
outcomes are made publicly available through an information platform, with the objective
to communicate in an effective and easily understandable way the results of the project
(https://veggaplatform.enea.it/). The platform can host further any European city under
request. The IP has thematic maps easily accessible in a GIS environment and all
stakeholders involved in urban planning can use them to evaluate the modelling
ecosystems services based on vegetation features (ADVANCED IP). The BASIC part of
IP is open to all citizens and shows how the temperature and concentrations of PM10, NO2
and O3 vary within the city area in time (hourly, daily monthly) due to vegetation. The
contribution of vegetation in removal of pollutants and to BVOC emissions is also
available on BASIC IP. In addition to that, six guidelines were produced to allow the
transferability and the replication of the approach used in the project. The main problems
in applying the proposed methodology are related to the existence of a detailed municipal
tree inventory.
By producing for the first-time data for temperature (meteorology) and air pollutant
concentrations in relation to vegetation ecosystem, the project allows municipalities to
choose the best forest strategies, seeking to effectively deliver temperature moderation and
air pollution reduction as much as possible in the area of the city. Thus, they are perfectly
fitted to develop joint urban Air Quality and Climate Change plans avoiding measures with
negative effects on atmosphere. These outputs may be used also to assess microclimate
and air quality status at spatial scales below 1 km by applying local modelling tools such
as street-canyon or CFD models which does not include all atmospheric physical and
chemical processes like CTMs.
VEG-GAP approach and results may be used to shape future European Union policy and
legislation, not only environmental policy since it considers explicitly all the human
activities, not only those responsible for anthropogenic emissions but also those that
change the Earth’s surface and affect atmosphere (climate and air quality) and biodiversity.
VEG-GAP methodology can also be applied to verify the vegetation interaction with the
changing climate, using climate projections as meteorological driver for the AQMs.

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4. Administrative part
C1. Project management (ENEA)
Foreseen start date: 03/12/2018 Actual start date: 02/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 03/12/2021 Actual end date: 03/05/2022

C1 had continuously monitored the project progress by checking the status of Deliverables,
Milestones, through Steering Committee meetings, emails and online calls. In addition of
the free web conference tool based on Adobe Connect made available by ENEA and
installed on project web site in the restricted area for all the partners, Skype online software
was also used. In the DOCUMENTS area of the project website, the partners uploaded
continuously all the financial data required for F1, 2…6, their Excel files with
FINANCIAL STATEMENT of the INDIVIDUAL Beneficiary, etc, as well as
Deliverables and Milestones and other project products that requires to be shared between
the partners.
The financial/administrative documents from partners were collected and checked
regularly by ENEA, every three months, as indicated in Partnership agreement.
There is no change in the project's management structure shown in the chart below.

The coordination of VEG-GAP requested a huge effort from all the partners, in particular
from ENEA, since it was a complicated and complex project and, in the middle of its
implementation, the Covid-19 pandemic turned up. The complication was given by the
fact that the interactions between the actions is characterized by cause-and-effect
relationships; therefore, the delay of one action leads to delays for other actions. It was a
complex project since the interactions between the actions were often two ways (not all

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are shown in the figure above), highly interdependent (in some cases, the outcomes of a
given action leaded to more requests to the previous action or to other actions). In some
actions and between the actions, the work, approaches/parameters, modelling systems and
outcomes required to be synchronized and coherent (e.g. A4 and A4, 2, 3 and 5); the
relationships between inputs and outputs are unpredictable (nonlinear), therefore all
approaches required testing at city level before making a decision.
The Covid19 pandemic added new unforeseen problems to project implementation. A
request for five months extension of project period was made mainly due to problems
encountered due to the Covid 19 pandemic situation. The answer was positive; the request
was countersigned by Commission and ENEA (Amendment n. 1 to Grant Agreement).
According to that, the project end date was 3 May 2022 instead of 3 December 2021.
All the Milestones and Deliverables were achieved as shown in Annex1, Att1 and more
specific info are available in Att4 e Att3, respectively. Due to Covid19 pandemic situation
and aiming at more efficient exchange of information between partners, it was decided to
split M3_C1 in three days, 3 hours online meeting each day (as reported in the minutes of
the Steering Committee meeting on 14 December 2020). These three meetings took place
online on 17 February 2021, 14 July 2021 and the last on 23 February 2022.
SC meetings took place regularly as shown in Annex5, Att1 providing support to project
management but also ensuring a direct and continuous communication between the
partners. This was particularly necessary given the fact the project actions are interlinked
as shown in figure below.

An additional SC meeting was organised on 3 April 2020 due to Covid pandemic aiming
to redefined the strategy for project implementation considering the working difficulties
due to this new situation.
C1 organized the four monitor visits (7 July 2019, 20 April 2020, 19 March 2021, 30
March 2022) and answered in the Reports (D1 to D5) to the requests received from DG-
ENV in the follow-up letters.
The management has also coordinated the publication of the following article regarding
the project: https://www.soiel.it/sfogliabili/innovazionePA/2021/settembre-
ottobre/FpgrhowT2zGGa.html#page=46 as well as many others shown in the second
worksheet in Annex4, Att1.

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In addition, scientific and technical meetings (see also Section 4.1, A4 action) and bilateral
discussions were organized according to the needs to ensure the transfer of data between
the partners and between the actions in a timing and consisting way. Some examples of
such meetings are a joint meeting of Actions A3, A4 and A5 in order to ensure a time
transferring of data and other scientific information between ARIANET, ENEA and UPM
(23 September 2022), a meeting to make a publication plan (14 January 2021), a meeting
to discuss the vegetation scenarios available for Milan and Bologna (15 January 2021),
meetings for supporting the Information Platform: BASIC (26 January 2021) and
ADVANCED (9 February 2021, 25 June 2021). A meeting with Municipality of Bologna
was also organized on 17 September 2020 in order to obtain more information to build a
realistic scenario for future vegetation plans in Bologna.
The Advisory Board was consulted three times: 29 October 2019 in person in Bologna,
thorough a two-day online meeting organised on 8 and 9 April 2021 and 29 April 2022 in
Madrid. D1_C3 After Life plan includes some of their suggestions regarding the
continuation and replication of project activities in the Section 1 “Production/support for
production of new data” as requested by DG-ENV after the fourth monitor visit.
C1 ensured the best use of financial resources from personnel to other costs foreseen. In
this regard, through partner consultation and with support of the monitor, ENEA prepared
the budget shift documentation available in Att1, Annex 2. C1 had also advocate on
keeping awareness of potential interdependencies with other EU ongoing projects and
consider their impact on project development.
C1 also supported the organization of B1, B2 and B3 events, through technical and
scientific coordination, the dissemination and communication of project news on social
channel, in the scientific community and inside ENEA by organizing meetings, sending
information and coordinating the interactions between scientific/technical partners and
municipalities.
In answer to the letter received from DG-ENV after the monitor visit regarding “Assess
the impact of vegetation ecosystems on health and ecosystem risks due to their effect on
air pollution in the partner municipalities (A5) some preliminary conclusions can be drawn
from the VEG-GAP project regarding the impact of vegetation on health. First of all, we
can state that NBS alone can’t guarantee better air quality. It´s necessary to combine
revegetation urban strategies with ambitious plans and measures to further abate
anthropogenic emissions. Tools used in VEG-GAP have certain limitations, although they
are capable of analysing the variations induced by vegetation on regulated air quality
parameters, providing qualitative information on the impact of NBS. Another critical issue
is the application of concentration-response functions (CRF) for the assessment of health
outcomes, typically mortality, may not be sufficiently informative. Since they relate
changes of concentrations with changes on incidence, they don’t attribute the health burden
to specific factors. For instance, an increase on mortality in the scope of the VEG-GAP
simulations should not be attributed to the vegetation itself, but to the anthropogenic
emissions in the partner municipalities. The application of assessment methodologies that
do not depend on anthropogenic emissions, e.g. those designed to assess long-term effects
on temperature may help lessening this methodological limitation since is more realistic,
pollution and temperature risks coexist. These summarising conclusions were also added
in the deliverable D2_A5.

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5. Technical part
5.1.Technical progress, per Action
The technical progress per action is further assessed according to the new timetable set-up
approved simultaneously with the prolongation of project duration until 5 May 2022
(Annex1_Deliverables_Milestones_List&Status).
All Deliverables and Milestones are available on the VEG-GAP web site internal pages and
attached to this report in the folders Att3_Deliverables and Att4_Milestones, respectively.

A1. Collect relevant information on initiatives and projects related to urban

ecosystems/vegetation and air pollution (ENEA)
Foreseen start date: 03/12/2018 Actual start date: 02/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 03/12/2021 Actual (or anticipated) end date: 03/12/2021

This action was carried out by ENEA with contributions from project partners through
partners’ relations/contacts with scientific community and authorities, networking, etc. All
the milestones (M1_A1, M2_A1, M3_A1, M4_A1) and deliverables (D1_A1, D2_A1,
D3_A1) were accomplished.
Action A1 was developed in three ways: (1) a mailing list with people involved in projects
related to urban ecosystem/vegetation and air pollution projects (M1_A1, M3_A1,
M4_A1); (2) a survey for the scientific community/administrations (M2_A1) and (3) World
Wide Web research starting from the European Commission CORDIS database. Regarding,
the survey M2_A1 - Administration of a survey to collect the lessons learnt so far, a first
version had already been proposed to some Administrations and the Scientific community
during the first year (2019) of the VEG-GAP Project; then according to the monitor and
DG-ENV indications, a new improved version of the survey was developed. The second
survey version, developed using Google forms facilities, was uploaded on the main page
of VEG-GAP web-site and was available in English:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_u0DScD_a18K3GSPsDrLCTDjNT66JZ-
Tex9iOf2Ft8lj8bg/viewform, Italian:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdRC4Dw9LuivwKr1YmXS3PSxum5ZYES
jcCTbchjTwNM8WhGoA/viewform and Spanish:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZkhbPfsNwtQ0-
qAORNebb7ILMd89FH_apPWGXQiECOzWipA/viewform, for on-line filling by users
The survey was also disseminated in text format by personal emails sent to several
Administrations, Public Authorities, Universities, Public Research bodies, Scientific
societies, Associations, Private bodies. It was also published within 3 Institution’s websites
(Ministry of Ecological Transition - https://www.minambiente.it/pagina/eventi-beneficiari-
life, https://www.minambiente.it/notizie/progetto-life-veg-gap-sodaggio-raccolta-di-
informazioni-su-iniziative-e-progetti-collegati; SISEF -
https://sisef.org/2020/03/31/sondaggio-raccolta-di-informazioni-su-iniziative-e-progetti-
collegati-agli-ecosistemi-di-vegetazione-urbana-e-inquinamento-dellaria/; HARMO -
http://www.harmo.org/index.php?#mu-activities) and was publicized via project and
partners’ social networks (Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook). In addition, a restricted group was
contacted via telephone (different Municipalities of the Bologna Metropolitan City) to
attract interest and remind the survey compilation. Base on the suggestions of monitor and
to collect more information, an updated "second edition" survey dissemination phase had
started on 30/03/2020. The whole "Survey" operation reached, along a cascade distribution,
about 1800 confirmed contacts. A contribution in finding information on projects related

12
to urban ecosystems/vegetation and air pollution and NBS in general, came from non-
official collaboration with the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials
Engineering (University of Bologna) on the occasion of a Degree Thesis elaboration about
green infrastructures in urban environment (student Donata Chiari, thesis “LE
INFRASTRUTTUURE VERDI E LE TECNOLOGIE VERDI IN AMBITO URBANO:
STRUMENTI DI INTERVENTO, AZIONI E PROGETTI EUROPEI - GREEN
INFRASTRUCTURES AND GREEN TECHNOLOGIES IN THE URBAN AMBIENT:
INTERVENTION TOOLS, ACTIONS AND EUROPEAN PROJECTS”).
As shown in D1,2 and 3, the combination of survey’s answers, CORDIS EU database
(https://cordis.europa.eu/projects) and web research permitted to individuate 110 projects /
initiatives, involving directly NBS or connected to nature and ecosystem services, 52 at
international significance (7th Framework Programme, Horizon2020, Life projects,
Interreg, Urban Innovative Actions, Climate Kic EU) and 58 at National/Local significance
(PRIN, Research projects, Local, other). Particular attention was posed to international
projects relevant for vegetation impacts’ assessment, where the information was more
available. According with D2_A1 (Database with the inventory of projects and initiatives
related to urban ecosystems/vegetation and air pollution), the overall amount of financing
is ca. 299,694,393€ in the framework of different programs such as 7th Framework
Programme, Horizon2020, Life projects, Interreg, Urban Innovative Actions. In general,
the involved countries resulted to be 64, from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The main types of interventions used vegetation to improve air quality, climate resilience,
temperature and drought reduction, water saving, land management, landscape
beautification, urban regeneration, energy efficiency, heat weaves reduction.
The collection of results (scientific, guidelines, dissemination/ communication products,
etc.) is still active since many projects have few deliverables and results were not available
since the activities are still ongoing.
Number of participants (institutions and countries) accounted a maximum amount per
project of 35 different institutions and of 39 different countries. In general, the involved
countries resulted to be more than 40, from Europe, America, Africa and Asia. The main
types of interventions used vegetation to improve air quality, climate, temperature, drought,
water, land management, landscape beautification, urban regeneration.

A2. Collect, evaluate and map the air pollution characteristics of

ecosystems/vegetation in the partner municipalities (CREA)
Foreseen start date: 03/12/2018 Actual start date:02/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 30/09/2021 Actual (or anticipated) end date: 30/09/2021

This action aimed at improving the coupling of air pollution with ecosystems/vegetation by
providing geo-located maps of vegetation and information on its characteristics. The main
achievements contained in the deliverables scheduled until the end of the project, are briefly
summarized below.
D1_A2 (30/04/2019) contains a database with maps of vegetation characteristics, including
georeferenced variables such as park, garden, street, vegetation type and a report which
summarizes the methodologies adopted, the relative results and accuracies. For the
realization of this action, we used a Geodatabase in Pseudomercator projection, the dataset
domain is related to the Municipality limits of Madrid, Milan and Bologna. All needed
geospatial information from the partner municipalities of the three target cities in order to
continue with project commitments (realization of vegetation maps) were obtained with
support from ARIANET and ENEA for Milan, ENEA for Bologna and UPM for Madrid.
To produce the database and the explanatory report, M1 was accomplished according to

13
the due date (30/03/2020) – “Bibliographic research and remote sensed data acquisition are
completed”.
D2_A2 was delivered on 13/12/2019 instead of 30/09/2019 once CREA obtained the
complete inventory of forest tree species for the cities of Bologna, Madrid and Milano. The
report introduces the main vegetation based on tree survey databases. In the first part of the
report, we grouped the most relevant species for each city. We also performed a qualitative
analysis based on their capacity to sequestrate CO2 from the atmosphere and ameliorate air
quality through sequestration of ozone and PM. In the same section we reported BVOC
emissions. In the second section we entered into detail of the species with a botanic
analysis. In the third section we performed a regression analysis considering the stem
diameter and canopy data for the city of Milan where this information was available.
D3_A2 originally due on 28/02/2020 was delivered on 31/03/2020 and provide indications
about urban green scenarios for the three municipalities involved in VEG-GAP, related to
new possible planting of trees within the Municipalities, or at the borders of them. For this
purpose, a questionnaire was created for Municipalities, in particular, for operators who
deal with the management and planning of urban green areas. The intent was to establish
priorities in the planning of urban green areas by the Municipalities in order to inform future
VEG-GAP activities aimed at drafting vegetation maps based on future scenarios. It took a
while to receive feedbacks from all municipalities, therefore the foreseen deliverable was
delayed.
D4_A2 delivered on 31/10/2020 is a report on the state-of-the-art ecosystems/vegetation in
urban and peri/urban green areas in Mediterranean basin. This work included literature
analysis and case studies and was an effort to define major constraints to assessing the state
of Mediterranean urban forests in light of Urban and periurban Forestry (UPF),
management approaches, organizations, responsibilities and decision making,
harmonization between Mediterranean cities methods to collect information which are
comparable at the national level or even applying common indicators that could be used in
evaluating the state of urban forests in the region.
D5_A2 is the most important deliverable from CREA, and the maps of vegetation for the
three target municipalities were delivered in its final form on 31/01/2021. However, since
the start of the project it emerged that such maps were crucial for functioning of chemical
transport models based on BVOC emission from vegetation needed to complete actions A3
and A4, therefore CREA already made available some of these maps to VEG-GAP partners
earlier in 2020. Vegetation cover maps were made thanks to combined use of satellite data
(Sentinel-2 Copernicus mission) and tree inventory provided by municipalities at 10 m
spatial resolution using a supervised classification in GIS environment. Maps were
validated through photointerpretation according to a Q-GIS procedure (M2 “Vegetation,
leaf area and phenology maps are achieved and validated”). Maps of Leaf Area Index (LAI)
were compiled thanks to existing satellite data (PROBAv Copernicus mission) at a spatial
resolution of 300 m and rescaled at the resolution of 500 m to meet the needs of A3-A4
actions. All maps are completed, including those for phenology. As a complementary
activity which could be useful to A3 and A4 action, CREA attempted to derive single-
species coverage from the satellite-derived land cover maps. To produce Phenology maps,
the starting point on which data extraction was carried out was extracted from the NASA
Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Global Land Surface Phenology
(GLSP) since Sentinel 2 satellite images do not have the needed temporal resolution for
interpretation of plant phenology, and MODIS satellite images do not offer enough spatial
resolution for the municipalities.
D6_A2: submitted on 31/10/2021, the guidelines in this deliverable contain all the methods
used to obtain the various maps. We have highlighted the importance of Remote Sensing

14
for evaluating urban green, and then we used the VEG-GAP case studies as examples for
the realisation of the maps. In order to study the capacity of urban plants to provide
ecosystem services and at the same time affect air quality, it is important to have a picture
of the most representative species in the target municipalities. So, we carried out the
analysis based on the list of trees and shrubs in the urban perimeter of the municipalities.
In the report, we discuss also an alternative approach to estimate the vegetation cover at
urban scale implemented by ARIANET in the frame of VEG-GAP activities aimed at
estimating species-specific emissions of BVOC affecting air quality. Rather than using
remotely sensed images and running supervised classification, ARIANET authors used
only the vegetation inventories developed by Municipal administrations and where
available CLC maps. We then compared the ARIANET method with the CREA method,
showing pros and cons of adopting a more conventional method vs using satellite images.
Concerning LAI maps, when possible, it is advised to directly validate LAI maps by
measuring “in situ” the LAI. It was decided to carry out the validations by comparing field
data collected through two methods based on multiple simultaneous measurements of
transmittance (indirect optical methods): the use of the LAI-2200C Plant Canopy Analyzer
by Li-Cor instrument and the use of hemispherical photos. Validation campaign (M2_A2)
was delayed from the original date (30/10/2021) to 24/02/2022 to overcome covid
restrictions and produced scientific results published in the Journal “Forests” (Conte et al.
2022).

A3. Assess and map biogenic emissions as a function of ecosystems/vegetation type

and as a function of meteorological conditions in the partner municipalities
(ARIANET)
Foreseen start date: 01/03/2019 Actual start date: 15/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 30/09/2021 Actual end date: 30/09/2021

This action had the main aim to compute BVOC emissions based on the vegetation
mapping and tree characteristics provided by existing inventories and Action A2 outcomes,
together with the meteorological data provided by Action A4. Data set and maps of BVOC
emissions for partner municipalities (Bologna, Madrid, Milan) current vegetation and
future vegetation scenarios mapping have been made available for Madrid (D2_A3) since
only for this city a usable urban vegetation plan was made available as deliverable D1_A3
and D2_A3. Action A3 activities and data flow, together with all the Milestones and
Deliverables are briefly described hereafter and can be found in Att 3.
The first action performed to prepare the application of the Plant-Specific Emission Model
(PSEM), to compute BVOC emission from vegetation, has been the compilation of the
Basal emission factors (BEF), expressing the capacity of each plant to emit BVOC under”
standard” atmospheric conditions, called “basal”. BEF values have been compiled from the
scientific literature for all the needed vegetation species and have been released in due time
(31/05/2019) as Milestone A3_M1.
The vegetation maps for Bologna, Madrid and Milan have been built integrating: a) the
Municipal trees inventory; b) the regional forest maps; c) the Italian or Spanish CORINE
land cover level 4/5. The background land use for Madrid, based on CLC-2000 level 5, has
been updated by UPM to CLC-2012, to be consistent with data used by the meteorological
model in Action 4. Data have been processed by GIS to build raster vegetation maps at 1km
space resolution. Then data from the different sources have been merged and homogenized
to provide maps covering the whole computational domains. Vegetation cover data have
been stored in netCDF files containing, for each grid cell, the fraction covered by each tree
species or land cover class. Data have been made available to all VEG-GAP beneficiaries

15
through VEG-GAP web site internal pages. Vegetation cover maps are now browsable
through the project information platform (https://veggaplatform.enea.it/). Vegetation cover
data have been further elaborated to provide input information in the form and classification
required by the meteorological model WRF to describe urban meteorology and by the air
quality model FARM to compute deposition velocities for the different pollutants through
the pre-processing tool SurfPRO.
The production of vegetation scenarios to evaluate the impact of urban green increment on
air quality and resilience to climate change has been delayed because the municipal urban
green development plans for Milan and Bologna were not available at the proposal
scheduled time. The Municipality of Madrid delivered on time a full green areas
redevelopment plan, as included in Plan A and Madrid 360 air quality and climate change
strategies, that allowed to compute the foreseen net increment of vegetation cover and to
add it to the present vegetation to build the future scenario. The green areas redevelopment
maps delivered by the Municipality of Madrid have been processed by GIS (with the
important contribution of ENEA) and transformed into area fractions covered by the
different species to be added to the reference vegetation map. Milan Municipality provided
preliminary information about the green areas development plan of the city that has been
used to build a possible urban green development scenario. The urban green planning was
still under development and not yet available for Bologna, therefore hypothetical scenarios
have been developed by ENEA and CREA. Milan and Bologna future scenarios green maps
have been completed with the same approach previously tested for Madrid. Future
scenarios vegetation maps have been released to all the partners in the same format of the
reference vegetation maps together with ancillary input information needed by
meteorological and air quality models.
ENEA has contributed to the elaboration of the original vegetation data of Madrid and
Bologna and developed the Bologna future vegetation scenario. The full procedure
followed to build raster type vegetation species map from the original vegetation
inventories is described in Deliverable A3_D4: Guidelines on estimating BVOC emissions.
The acquisition of meteorological input data was scheduled as Milestone M2_A3 for
31/03/2020, but it was postponed to 23/09/2020 due to delays in meteorological fields
simulations, which caused even the postponement of deliverable D1_A3 and D2_A3,
whose completion has been reached 31/03/2021 with the release of full year emissions.
After the reference year meteorological fields have been made available by the activities
performed in Action A4 by ENEA and UPM, they have been used, together with the
reference and future scenarios vegetation maps to compute the BVOC emissions for the
three cities. It should be reminded that different meteorological fields have been used for
present and future vegetation conditions, because the surface cover changes have been
described inside the meteorological model WRF configuration, to describe the future urban
meteorological conditions. Hourly BVOC emission fluxes have been stored and made
available in netCDF files containing, for each grid cell the flux of the BVOC species with
the aggregation required by the chemical transport models FARM and CMAQ used by
ENEA and UPM for the cities of Bologna, Milan and Madrid, respectively. Datasets of
biogenic emission for present and future vegetation scenarios have been released as
deliverables D1_A3 and D2_A3 and documented by the accompanying reports. BVOC
emissions computed for reference and vegetation scenarios, together with their differences,
are now browsable through the project information platform
(https://veggaplatform.enea.it/).
The Plant Specific Emission Model (PSEM) employed to compute BVOC emissions and
the full process followed are described by deliverable D4_A3: Guidelines on estimating
BVOC emissions, completed on 30/09/2021.

16
The changes of the emission fluxes due to the meteorological variability have been analysed
and described through the results obtained by the estimation realised for the three cities.
Moreover, for the city of Bologna, we extended the computation to five recent years to
estimate the BVOC emission interannual variability attributable to the natural variability
of meteorology. This analysis would like to be a starting point to evaluate the possible
future changes due to the expected climate change. The impact of meteorological variability
on the biogenic emissions is documented by the deliverable D3_ A3 report, completed on
31/07/2021. All the A3 activities have been performed in collaboration and coordination
with Actions A2 and A4 to optimise the data exchange and to obtain reciprocal input
concerning the development of the Actions’ work. Action A3 collaborated with Action A6
providing data concerning the mapping of urban vegetation and its biogenic emissions to
feed the basic and advanced information platforms.
The methodology for mapping vegetation BVOC has been presented to the 12th
International Conference on Air Quality (https://airquality2020.meng.auth.gr/) which took
place virtually due to COVID-19 pandemic on May 2020. Action A3 results, together with
the whole project activities, have been presented at the Novi Sad Nature-Based Solutions
& Climate-Sensitive Urban Design training school, originally scheduled for June 2020 and
postponed to September 2021 (http://clihyd.com/novi-sad-nature-based-solutions-climate-
sensitive-urban-design-training-school-2020/). The model PSEM has been presented at the
38th NATO/SPS ITM on Air Pollution Modelling and its Application, 18 – 22 October
2021, Barcelona, Spain.
The main problem faced has been the delay accumulated in the process to access
information concerning the urban vegetation development plans from the municipalities of
Milan and Bologna. The difficulty was justified because those cities plans were not in a
fully developed status as it was already that of Madrid. This issue caused the delay and
rescheduling of the deliverable D2_A3. Another management difficulty was tied to the
interdependence of A3 and A4 activities: A4 meteorological simulations needed A3
vegetation mapping input, while A3 BVOC emissions estimate needed meteorological
fields produced by A4. Even if the needed interaction caused some delay in the project
progress, it should be considered the positive result to have fostered the collaboration of
beneficiaries responsible for the different activities and improved the knowledge of the
reciprocal activities, inducing the adjustment of A3 tasks to better fit the other Actions’
needs.

A4. Assess the role of ecosystems/vegetation on urban heating/cooling and the relation
with air pollution in the partner municipalities (ENEA)
Foreseen start date: 01/07/2019 Actual start date: 15/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 30/09/2021 Actual end date: 30/09/2022

This action has investigated the effects of present vegetation and of scenarios for future
vegetation on atmosphere, in particular, on temperature and NO2, O3 and PM10
concentrations in three cities: Madrid (Spain) and Bologna and Milan (Italy) respectively.
As the core of the project (see flux diagram in the image below), A4 activities were carried
out through coordination with the other activities. A1 provided information useful for
configuring the assessment methodology; A2 and A3 provided input data while A4
provided data to A5 and A6. The model configuration, meteorological and air quality
simulations’ setup were discussed mainly by ENEA and UPM partners in many bilateral
meetings (see the list in the image below) and emails’ exchange. Several meetings also
involved the partner municipalities (CDM, MCBO and MAD) and MEEO in order to tailor
the results for cities’ requests and in support to B1,2 and 3 actions. ENEA coordinated

17
most of these activities since the results were also important for successful C1 and C2
management actions.

The Milestones of A4 M1 - Action meeting to analyse the first results and M2 Action
meeting to make an evaluation of the functionality and adequacy of the information
produced are shown in green in the image above and more information on discussions is
available in Att4.
The four deliverables realised in this action are briefly described below and can be found
in Att3.
D1_A4 shows the effects of vegetation ecosystems on air quality data: O3, PM10 and NO2
concentrations and deposition, in different meteorological conditions for Bologna, Madrid
and Milan. The estimations include the impact of vegetation on meteorology, the removal
of pollutants by vegetation as well as their BVOC (biogenic volatile compounds) emissions
produced in Action A3. The deliverable contains both maps and database with differences
in NO2, PM10, O3 concentrations and dry depositions due to current and future vegetation
scenarios.
D2_A4 contains maps with urban cooling and heating patterns in partner municipalities:
Bologna, Madrid, Milan associated to the current and scenario for future vegetation. The
data are also available as databases. The simulations were performed with WRF version
3.9.1.1 by ENEA team and WRFv4.1.2 by UPM team.
Both D1_A4 and D2_A4 include data from yearly simulations considering a more realistic
representation of urban morphology: a 2D spatial distribution of urban fraction as input of
WRF and of the chemical transport models used in the project: FARM (ENEA) and CMAQ
(UPM) in addition to more simplified simulations regarding urban morphology for July and
January.
Both deliverables show the differences in temperature and air concentrations in order to
evaluate the effect of vegetation on meteorological and chemical variables. For January and
July 2015, it was estimated from two simulations: one simulation included the vegetation
in the city (S1) while in the other simulation the vegetation is replaced with bare soil (S0).
Similar approach was used also when 2d urban morphology was considered in the yearly
simulations: the effect of current vegetation on atmospheric characteristics was estimated

18
as the difference between a simulation with vegetation (SVR – simulation vegetation real)
and a simulation without urban vegetation (SVN –simulations vegetation null) while the
effect of future vegetation on atmospheric characteristics was estimated as the difference
between a simulation with future vegetation (SVSR – simulation vegetation scenario real)
and a simulation with current vegetation (SVR).
D3_A4 shows the sensitivity tests made to assess the impact of physical parameterizations
and vertical levels on meteorology and the impact of size of the city domain on city
pollution. This report also describes the improvement of urban vegetation representation in
WRF and discusses the impact of current vegetation on meteorological and air quality
conditions. It was also updated with the new results included in D1 and D2.
D4_A4 contains a description of the methodological approach implemented in VEG-GAP
project in order to evaluate the impact of urban vegetation on heat island and air pollution,
together with a description of different available tools developed to pre-process and post-
process data in the context of atmospheric modelling for assessment and planning purposes.
Thanks to budget shift shown in Annex2
(Att2), ENEA through a collaboration with Simularia Srl has developed a software, AirVeg
(https://gitlab.com/simularia/veg-gap/airveg), an R package for data analysis, useful for
those who will replicate the VEG-GAP approach that can be further developed since it is
open source.
As a direct output of this action a scientific article was published by David de la Paz et al.
entitled “Assessment of air quality and meteorological changes induced by future
vegetation in Madrid” (Citation: de la Paz, D.; de Andrés, J.M.; Narros, A.; Silibello, C.;
Finardi, S.; Fares, S.; Tejero, L.; Borge, R.; Mircea, M. Assessment of Air Quality and
Meteorological Changes Induced by Future Vegetation in Madrid. Forests 2022, 13, 690.
https://doi.org/10.3390/f13050690) in addition to all contributions to
dissemination&communication products and activities mentioned in actions B1, B2 and B3
(some of them available on the project website such as VEG-GAP book -
https://www.lifeveggap.eu/docs/[oa]%201-070%20Valeria%20Stacchini%20-
%20Vegetation%20for%20urban%20green%20air%20quality%20plans.pdf, press kit,
guideline D4_A4, etc).
Most of the computational activities carried out in A4 and A3 by ARIANET and UPM were
done on CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure. The data are
also stored on this infrastructure funded by ENEA and by Italian and European research
programmes (http://www.cresco.enea.it/english).

A5. Assess the impact of ecosystems/vegetation on health and ecosystem risks due to
their effect on air pollution in the partner municipalities (UPM)
Foreseen start date: 01/07/2019 Actual start date: 02/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 30/06/2021 Actual end date: 31/03/2022

This action had chosen all the metrics to evaluate the impact of vegetation oh human health
and the vegetation itself for the three target cities (Bologna, Milan and Madrid) as well as
the necessary information for the application of concentration-response functions (2015
population and all-cause –natural- mortality for population over 30 year-old).
The decisions were taken through discussions during the milestones M1_A5-Action
meeting to analyse the preliminary outputs from A4 and to elaborate a harmonized
methodology for impacts and M2_A5 - Action meeting to analyse the first results before
demonstrative days as well as in other meetings mention above in technical description of
action A4. More information about these milestones is available in Att4.

19
The outputs provided by the simulations of the chemical transport models (CTM) carried
out in Action 4 have been acquired and processed for the three target cities (Bologna, Milan
and Madrid) and the three different scenarios (SVR, SVN and SVSR). Specifically, hourly
NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5 concentration levels with 1 km2 spatial resolution were used to
estimate the following metrics set by the European AQ legislation:
1. Relevant AQ metrics according to current legislation (AQD standards)
- NO2 annual mean (Annual Limit Value)
- NO2 1-hour 19th highest value (99.8 percentile) (Hourly Limit Value)
- PM10 annual mean (Annual Limit Value)
- PM10 24-hour 36th highest value (90.4 percentile) (Daily Limit Value)
- PM2.5 annual mean (Annual Limit Value)
- O3 26th highest maximum daily 8-hour mean (93.2 percentile) (Target Value)
2. Concentration-Response functions based on health relative risks for:
- NO2 annual mean
- PM2.5 annual mean
- O3 average of daily 8-hour maximum (>70 μg∙m-3) in Summer
Each of the metrics have been exported from netcdf format to GIS format, which helps a
better graphical representation of the statistics. This facilitates the spatial analysis of the
different variables as well as the estimation of the population's exposure, through the
intersection of population shapefile with the previously mentioned metrics. In addition, this
procedure allows to have the AQD metrics for each cell of the different domains, being
able to also estimate the differences between scenarios (SVR, SVN and SVSR). This allows
the assessment of air quality changes induced by vegetation in terms of compliance of the
EU limit values for the protection of the vegetation as well as additional analyses based on
epidemiological studies relating air pollution and health impacts in Europe. While
concentration values are provided by action A4, both population and current mortality rates
were computed from official Italian and Spanish statistics with the same spatial resolution.
Of note, they relate specifically to the population segment (30 years and older) and
mortality causes (all-cause/respiratory mortality excluding accidents or natural mortality),
accordingly to the definition of the relative risks used in A5.
During the project meetings, representative Concentration-Response functions (CRF)
where discussed. Following the recommendations of the World Health Organization for
Europe, CRFs from HRAPIE (Health risk of air pollution in Europe) and REVIHAAP
(review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution) projects were chosen to represent
the impact of air pollution on mortality in VEGGAP. For instance, according to these
references, an increase of 10 µg/m3 on the PM2.5 annual mean is associated to and increase
of death relative risk of 6.2% (95% confidence interval of 4.0%-8.2%). Considering the
population exposed, current city-specific mortality rates and concentration changes among
scenarios simulated in A4, estimates of mortality changes, including the corresponding
confidence intervals, where estimated with 1 km2 resolution. In order to convey the result
in a simpler and more robust way, the results were aggregated at municipality level.
While this is a widespread methodological approach for health impact assessments, we
decided to complement the analysis with additional assessments that do not depend on
anthropogenic emissions and may provide a wider view of the benefits of urban vegetation.
As detailed in the corresponding milestones and reports, a methodology to estimate long-
term mortality due to changes on temperature across the year was applied. To that end heat
and cold degrees accumulation over a country-specific minimum mortality temperature
(MMT) were computed at grid level from A4 meteorological simulations. Similarly to the
methodology based on air pollution CRF, these results were crossed with population in the
three target municipalities and the corresponding relative risks were applied. The joint

20
analysis of the results from all these metrics was taken into account in the global assessment
and the recommendations made to estimate the impact of urban ecosystems/vegetation on
health in the future.
D1_A5 Databases and maps with impact of urban ecosystems/vegetation on health and
ecosystem risks due to their effect on air pollution in partner municipalities (Bologna,
Madrid, Milan) integrates the products of air quality simulations and summarizes the results
in relation to the main metrics established in Directive 2008/50/EC as well the metrics for
the analysis of the impact of air quality on health through CRF and also the metrics for the
analysis of the impact on vegetation. These products are represented through maps and
databases for partner municipalities (Bologna, Madrid, Milan)
D2_A5 Report on the impact of urban ecosystems/vegetation on health and ecosystem risks
due to their effect on air pollution in partner municipalities (Bologna, Madrid, Milan). City-
specific results for the different scenarios regarding the main pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2
and O3).
D3_A5 Guidelines and support tool for estimating impact of urban ecosystems/vegetation
on health and ecosystem risks due to their effect on air pollution in partner municipalities
in support to AQPs. This deliverable summarizes the lessons learned in VEG-GAP and
includes general and specific methodological recommendation for the simulation and
assessment of health and ecosystems related to the introduction of vegetation in the city.

A6. Development of an information platform and tools to support authorities (MEEO)

Foreseen start date: 03/12/2018 - Actual start date: 07/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 31/12/2020 - Actual end date: 03/05/2022

The effort spent in the last reporting period has been crucial to progress and improve the
Information Platform both the frontend, backend and storage services in view of the
delivery of the consolidated application (M3-A6) at the end of the project (May 2022).

Figure with VEG-GAP project webpage access point to use the Information Platform.

The platform has been deployed to the production environment of the ENEA datacenter
(CRESCO). and is accessible through the project webpage (link
https://www.lifeveggap.eu/, see figure above) or directly at the following web address
https://veggaplatform.enea.it/.

21
The two milestones planned for the project, for the A6 action, were achieved in time
respectively in May 2019, for the platform deployment and initial set-up (M1_A6 Multi-
purpose information system – Deployment and Initial setup), and in September 2019 for
the intermediate release (M2_A6_Multi-purpose information system – Intermediate
release). In 2020 a further milestone (M3_A6 Multi-purpose information system –
Consolidated release ) was scheduled for the end of the project (initially planned for
December 2021), to release the consolidated version of the platform: M3 has been achieved
in time with the project closure, in May 2022 because of the project extension.
The Milestones M1 and M2 related respectively to the system set-up and the platform
intermediate release were accompanied by the respective evidence files
(M1_A6_InformationSystemSetUp_MEEOMay2019.pdf
and M2_A6_VEG-GAP_PlatformIntermediateRelease.pdf - M2_A6_Annex1-
WebPlatformIntermediateRelease.pdf) which provided a first simplified overview of the
platform implementation plan, requirement analysis, co-design, logical chart and its
architecture.
The first A6 deliverable (Multi-purpose information platform and support tools for AQPs
(D1)) was released in December 2019 with evidence file D1_A6_VEG-
GAP_deliverable_InformationPlatform.pdf, which reported the link to the platform and the
screenshot of the available version.
The second deliverable (User guide for information platform and support tools (D2)),
foreseen for May 2020, was related to the platform user guide and was released in
September 2020 (D2_A6_VEG-GAP_InformationPlatform_UserGuide.pdf). A further
updated release were directly put online (in March 2021) on the platform with a delay due
to the information platform co-design that was re-opened in 2020.
The updated user guide is available in English and Italian languages, on the VEG-GAP
platform https://veggaplatform.enea.it (book icon on the top right), in two languages:
English version:
https://veggaplatform.enea.it/static/userguide/veggap/UsersGuide_VeggapIP2021_Basic_
Advanced_ENG.html
Italian version:
https://veggaplatform.enea.it/static/userguide/veggap/GuidaUtenti_VeggapIP2021_BASI
C_ADVANCED_IT.html
The e-learning component of the VEG-GAP Information Platform was co-designed with
the project partners, mainly with the feedback of the three Municipalities involved in the
project. According to this, the graphical user interface of the e-learning platform (or Basic
version) aims at showing the project results in a very simple way under the form of possible
answers to citizens’ questions regarding the vegetation effects on temperature and air
quality. The Advanced version of the platform, more complex to be used by non-expert
users, wants to share all the information layers and data related to the scientific project
results.
The last months of the project were crucial to consolidate the Information Platform both
the frontend, backend and storage services, for the delivery of the consolidated application
(M3-A6) at the end of the project (May 2022).At this aim, in collaboration with the
scientific partners of the project, the following development and implementation activities
were carried out:
• Implementation of a semi-automated procedure to apply the pre-processing steps and
ingest the input data;
• Improvement of the BASIC version to ingest all the available time resolution data
(hourly, daily, monthly, annual) and all the statistical data regarding temperature, pollutant
concentration and removal, annual simulation data;

22
• Platform update with the most recent simulation results produced by the scientific
partners;
• Improvement of the vegetation map products. On the BASIC version to improve the
queries for current vegetation species histograms, and on the ADVANCED to display the
vegetation cover in different scenarios: current, future and variation scenarios.
• Completion of the landing page (https://veggaplatform.enea.it/) with Disclaimers and
documents (Definition of the VEG-GAP Platform “Terms&Conditions”, Data protection
privacy and Cookies);
• Accessibility improvements of the GUI applying the W3C® Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG 2.0);
• Implementation of a VEG-GAP platform multilingual configuration to manage the tree
language versions (English, Italian, Spanish) and translation.
• Enrichment of the VEG-GAP platform with the User’s Guide in English and Italian
version. The “manual” icon to access them is available both from the landing page, both
from the BASIC and both from ADVANCED versions.
• Implementation of a “self-registration” method for the creation of the ADVANCED
users (temporary activated in November to allow the consortium member to create
customized users);
• Organization of internal meetings with project partners for technical exchanges on the
Veg-Gap information platform.
• Participation to all the 2021 events and workshop (virtual and in presence) to present
the VEG-GAP platform.
• Improvement of platform functionalities according to the feedback received by the
scientific partners, the involved Municipalities and the stakeholders involved during the
2021 and 2022 project and non-project events.
In addition to the above activities, a further effort for bug fixing and minor adjustments of
input data is reported; for instance: even if a conventional format was agreed with partners,
some manual adjustments are often required in the data ingestion by MEEO for the platform
ingestion, for different geographic information / projections, time format, unit of measures
etc. Moreover, some platform functionalities needed to be improved according to the
collected feedback; indeed, the scientific partners, the involved Municipalities and the
stakeholders involved during the last meetings (from AB meeting in April 2021 to the most
recent workshops in presence in Bologna and Milan), provided some feedback on the
platform functionalities, supporting the system debugging of possible issues that were
subsequently fixed.
The VEG-GAP Platform is currently available both on ENEA operative environment
(https://veggaplatform.enea.it/) and on the local MEEO development and test environment.
The BASIC version (public, no login required), for citizens and non-expert users, is
available in English, Italian and Spanish languages. and is structured into 5 potential
questions related to the present vegetation (question 1) and its impact on meteorology and
air quality (question 2,3,4,5).

Table with conceptual configuration of e-learning information platform (BASIC) for public

23
The ADVANCED version (login-required) is in English language, as mainly conceived for
technical people, interested in analysing data in details.
A users Guide is available in English and Italian by selecting the “User Guide” icon on
every platform page (both Basic both Advanced).
In the last months of the project activity steps were performed on the VEG-GAP service,
in adding minor improvements if necessary and in updating the information platform with
the last simulations’ results, other than guaranteeing its availability for the demonstrative
days of spring 2022.
The whole platform was also configured in order to be kept available for the whole after-
life period (D1_C3).

B1. Communication and dissemination of project activities to stakeholders and

general public (MCBO)
Foreseen start date: 03/12/2018 Actual start date: 02/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 03/12/2021 Actual (or anticipated) end date: 03/05/2022

B1.1 Dissemination planning and project image and B1.2 Website and other digital
activities
The dissemination plan (D1_B1), the project image and the website were completed in
September 2019. The dissemination plan describes in detail the objectives, strategy and
means of communication used in the project. The project image was realized through a
project logo, a digital banner and a coordinate image on the website and social channels.
The website (D2_B1, M2_B1) is the nerve centre of project communication. It was realized
with technical support and it is hosted by ENEA and available in 3 languages (English,
Italian and Spanish).
Every week the news were published in an easy-to-understand language, to narrate the
VEG-GAPs progresses and to create synergies with other projects and media. The website
is integrated with the social pages of the project (Facebook and Twitter). The same contents
of the news, adapted in tone and style, were disseminated also via the VEG-GAP social
media accounts, following a specific editorial plan for each channel. At the end of the
project the Facebook page, meant for the general public, collects 458 followers and the
Twitter reached 51 followers, exceeding the overall goal of 500 followers.
In the year 2020, the news was distributed even via a newsletter to a mailing list of people
who have shown interest in the project. Two newsletters in English have been sent to 94
contacts: one in September and one in December 2020. The newsletter of December 2020
was also translated in Italian and sent to 18 contacts.

24
The website hosts the possibility of answering questionnaires and two surveys are
available: one addressed to citizens about the air quality improvement in the city and the
other devoted to professionals working in urban vegetation projects.
The survey devoted to citizens, related to action B2, collected 88 questionnaires completed
online and the survey about initiatives and projects related to urban vegetation ecosystem
and air pollution, related to action A1, collected 55 questionnaires completed online.
The website includes a work section only for registered users: partners used it as a
repository of project’s related official documents.
In December 2021 the homepage was revamped with the official project video. From the
homepage of the website, it is also possible to access the VEG-GAP information platform
and the Layman's report.
The goal set in the communication plan to reach 25,000 people/stakeholders (reach or net
coverage) was reached and exceeded.

The website obtained very good results for visitors and downloads as showed in the table
below:

KPI’S 3rd May 2022 Goal % of achievement

Unique website users Total number: 39.293 3.000 (end value) 1310% (end value)
2020: 13.169, 1.000 per year 1317% in 2020
2021:11.565 1156% in 2021
N° downloads Total number: 3123 2.400 (end value) 130% (end value)
2020: 1.205 800 per year 2020: 150%
2021: 853 2021: 106%

The values of the main indicators and the methodology used to count them is described in
detail in the Att1, Annex3.

B1.3 Notice Boards (D3_B1) and B1.4 Communication materials

Various types of communication media were already produced in September 2019: a notice
board (D3_B1) and a roll-up distributed to the various communication partners, project
leaflets (https://www.lifeveggap.eu/filesharer/documents/)(D4_B1) printed in 1,500 copies
and three infographics.
The roll-ups were used during all the official events held during the project.
The leaflets were distributed during project events, networking events and other meetings
attended in presence by partners and invited stakeholders.
In December 2021 the project video was finalized and approved in order to facilitate the
transfer of project aims. The 2-minutes video, with a graphic motion style, is the result of
a work that involved all the partners, especially in the writing of the script.
It was first of all uploaded on MCBO’s Youtube channel and on the VEG-GAP website,
and then it has been disseminated among all partners. Here is the link of the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuqUX-0GX10&t=12s
The gadgets produced, 500 small boxes of seeds with the project logo, were distributed to
partners and to the attendees at the events held in presence in autumn 2021 (Bologna 3rd
workshop and Milan 2nd Conference and Networking event in December 2021) and in
spring 2022 (Demonstrative day in Rome, Final conference, Networking event and
Demonstrative day in Madrid).
The 385 16GB USB sticks created as a project gadget, containing copies of the Layman’s
report in English and local language, were distributed to all partners and during the

25
Demonstrative day in Rome and the Final Conference, Networking event and
Demonstrative day in Madrid held in April 2022.

A book about the project (180 pages) for a public of practitioners, entitled “Vegetation for
urban green air quality plans: a new approach from the VEG-GAP project”, was written
together by the entire partnership and published by Bologna University press in May 2022.
Some hardcopies were printed and will be distributed during the After Life. The pdf version
is available on the project’s website and also on the publishing house website free to
download here: https://buponline.com/prodotto/vegetation-for-urban-green-air-quality-
plans/.

B1.5 Media tools

A press kit (https://www.lifeveggap.eu/?q=press) has been created with 2 documents inside
that can be downloaded from the website.
Since the start of the project 53 articles were published (second worksheet in Annex4, Att1)
some of them devoted to a general public and the majority created for a scientific public of
researchers and experts in atmospheric sciences, public managers and administrators,
policy makers, associations of environmental protection and air quality. The results were
disseminated also on the networking website for researchers Scopus and on Research gate,
Academia and Linked-in. The media appearances are 82 since the start of the project (first
worksheet in Annex4, Att1), news about the project appeared on internet portals, online
platforms, internet web services providers, local TV and radio.
VEG-GAP has been included as a case study in the Oppla (EU Repository of Nature-Based
Solutions) web catalogue, here the link: https://oppla.eu/casestudy/25918 . The VEG-GAP
Information Platform and the Layman’s have been published also in Oppla marketplace,
here the link: https://oppla.eu/product/25917, as well as the Veg-gap book
(https://oppla.eu/product/26365).

Considering the daily visitors of the different media, focusing expecially on the biggest
ones, the total reaching capacity of the media was about 2.000.000 people (Annex3, Att1).

B1.6 Public Events

9 workshops and 3 conferences were organized during the project, starting from autumn
2019.
Milan, Bologna and Madrid were among the European cities most affected by COVID-19
in the year 2020. Taking in account the restrictions and difficulties the cities were facing,
the VEG-GAP Steering Committee in 2020 decided to postpone all in-person events, such
as the midterm conference and the workshops with stakeholders. In the years 2021 and
2022 all the postponed events were realized online and/or in presence.

Each city (Bologna, Madrid and Milan) organized 3 workshops (first, second and third) in
3 different phases of the project, targeted to professional stakeholders (public authorities,
professionals, associations, practitioners, policy makers etc…). During the workshops the
participants were invited to interact with the speakers and to give impressions and
suggestions about the results of the project and inputs for the improvement of the platform:

The first workshops (M5_B1, D6_B1,) were organised in autumn 2019.

The workshops were aimed to present the results of the first year of activity of the project
and they were held in presence.

26
 Where Organizers WhenN° of
participants
Bologna MCBO, ARIANET, CREA, 25th of October 21
ENEA, MEEO 2019
1st Madrid MAD, UPM 3rd of December 30
Workshops 2019
Milan CDM, ARIANET, CREA, 16th of December 30
ENEA, MEEO 2019

The second project workshops in Bologna, Madrid and Milan (M6_B1, D7_B1) foreseen
by the 31/05/2020 were delayed and postponed in May 2021, in Bologna and Milan they
were held online due to the Covid 19 pandemic situation.
During the online workshops the project partners showed the newly developed tools and
the results obtained so far in the local understanding of vegetation effects in the different
pilot cities.

Where Organizers When N° of

participants
Bologna MCBO, ARIANET, CREA, 4th May 37
(online) ENEA, MEEO 2021
2nd Madrid MAD, UPM 27th May 47
Workshops 2021

Milan CDM, ARIANET, CREA, ENEA, 14th May 42

(online) MEEO 2021

3rd workshops in Bologna, Madrid and Milan (M7_B1, D8_B1) presented the final version
of the platform, the results and the tools available to support the design of urban plans for
air quality:

Where Organizers When N° of

participants
Bologna MCBO, ARIANET, CREA, 7th December 28
ENEA, MEEO 2021
3rd
Workshops Madrid MAD, UPM 22nd December 14
(online) 2021

Milan CDM, ARIANET, CREA, 2nd November 25

ENEA, MEEO 2021

The conferences:

27
 What Where Organizers When N° of
participants
1st Bologna MCBO, ARIANET, CREA, 27th February 106
Conference ENEA, MEEO 2019

2nd Milan and CDM, ARIANET, CREA, 14th December 56

Conference online ENEA, MEEO 2021

3rd Madrid MAD, ENEA, UPM 28th April 2022 41

Conference

Launch Conference (M1_B1) was organised on 27th February 2019 to present the project,
reaching 12 thousand people including guests and interested parties.
The 2nd project conference (M3_B1), foreseen in Madrid by the 30/04/2020 was delayed
and held on the 28th of April 2022, becoming in this way the final conference. The event
was in presence with also the possibility to follow it online. Scientific partners showed the
final results of the project in Madrid, Bologna and Milan.
The 3rd project conference (M4_B1) was held on time expected, on 14th December 2021
(becoming in this way the 2nd project conference) with the networking event (M3_B3) in
Milan in a hybrid format (in presence and online) to comply with the limitations due to the
pandemic situation, and to give the possibility to everyone to attend the event in an online
mode.
The focus was on the knowledge learned and the results achieved thanks to the project in
Milan, Bologna and Madrid and it was an opportunity to explore the emission scenarios of
vegetation and its direct and indirect impacts on the meteorology and air quality.

The external events organized or attended by the partners were 41, with more than 1000
participants. Among the most important events attended we have Ecomondo, Conama,
ITM, Emilia-Romagna Region Climate Change Forum, My plant & garden, Milano Green
week. For more information and for the complete list see the third worksheet in Annex4,
Att1.

B1.7 Layman’s report

The Layman’s report, describing the activities and the outcomes of the project in a non-
technical and easy to understand language, was prepared with the contribution of all the
partners and the coordination of Metropolitan City of Bologna.
The report was created in English, Italian and Spanish and printed in 400 hardcopies,
distributed to all the partners, who in turn distributed to stakeholders and at events.
Layman’s report hardcopies and pdf, contained in usb sticks, were distributed to
participants during the last events held in April 2022: Demonstrative day in Rome, Final
conference, Networking event and Demonstrative day in Madrid.
The Layman’s report in pdf format is available also on the website and was sent to 131 civil
society organizations working on environmental issues and sustainability.
The report is available also on the Oppla platform here
https://oppla.eu/sites/default/files/uploads/veg-gap-laymans-reportenglight_0.pdf

B2. Demonstrative days for stakeholders interested to replicate the project (MAD)
Foreseen start date: 01/06/2020 Actual start date: 01/06/2020
Foreseen end date: 30/06/2021 Actual end date: 03/05/2022

28
The project partners had carried out demonstrative day meetings in Bologna, Milan, Madrid
and Rome in order to present a general view of the project, the results achieved and to show
the information platform data and the methodologies developed in the project to encourage
the replicability of the project.
Progress description by city.
BOLOGNA (D1_B2)
Status. COMPLETED
- The Demostrative day in Bologna took place on Thursday 22, October 2020. 11:30 -
13:00 CET
- The format of the meeting was online
- The workshop explained to the public and specialists, how the EU LIFE project VEG
GAP platform’s atmospheric modelling systems can provide useful information on the
links between vegetation, temperature and air pollution to develop effective control
strategies to maintain and improve air quality in European cities.
Experts showed the new tools and discuss the current local understanding of vegetation's
effects on the pilot cities: Bologna, Madrid and Milan.
After receiving information about the EU Life VEG-GAP project
(https://www.lifeveggap.eu/) and its platform, the public will be invited to interact with the
speakers and also to provide inputs to improve the platform.
- The workshop was framed in the EWRC European Week of Regions and Cities
MILAN (D3_B2)
Status. COMPLETED
- Milan Demostrative day was held on Monday the 07 June 2021 within the EU Green
Week.
- The meeting was held online
- Up to 50 people attended the meeting, representing 19 entities (Municipalities,
Universisties, Resarch centers, consultants, social entities…)
- The workshop aimed to explain what the role of climate strategies in urban plans is and
how the EU LIFE project VEG-GAP methodology can provide useful information on the
links between vegetation, temperature and air pollution
- There were interventions from Comune di Milano, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, ENEA,
UPM and MEEO. The meeting closed with an open discussion.
MADRID (D2_B2)
Status. COMPLETED
The meeting was held in person on 29 April 2022 Library at Retiro Park (Madrid) organized
by MAD. The format of meeting was in person. The meeting can be watch on
https://youtu.be/VWDLtn1IcUs.
This meeting was attended by 44 people representing different entities; Universities, public
administrations, research centers or environmental consultants.

ROME (D4_B2)
Status. COMPLETED
Roma Demonstrative day was held on 20 April 2022 at the Società Geografica Italiana in
Rome, from 09:30 to 17:00. The title of the event, in Italian, was "Study of the impact of
vegetation on meteorology and air quality and opportunities for urban planning" and was
organized by CREA.
The format of meeting was in person.
There were interventions from project partners (ENEA; MCBO, CREA, ARIANET).

29
Throughout the meeting, interventions and debates were well received by those present, and
fruitful and interesting discussions about the topic in question arose. Particular interests was
collected by professionals in forest planning and employees from the municipality of Rome
who attended the event.
This meeting was attended by 30 people representing different entities; Universities, public
administrations, research centers or environmental consultants.

More details on the demonstrative days may be found in deliverablesD1, D2, D3 and
D4_B2 (Att3). They also prove that M1, M2, M3 and M4 were achieved.
This action has been greatly affected by the pandemic. There have been delays with respect
to the scheduled dates and changes in the format for holding the events.

The awareness surveys available on the project website regarding urban vegetation and air
quality were compiled by 149 visitors. Urban vegetation survey was compiled by 56
visitors, 28 in Italian and 28 in English while the air quality survey was compiled by 93
visitors, 15 in Italian, 64 in Spanish and 14 in English. The awareness surveys were
promoted in all the activities of the project. However, with respect to results obtained by
B1 activities described in Final Report, these surveys had a very limited impact on increase
awareness amongst stakeholders and citizens.

B3. Networking with other LIFE and/or non-LIFE projects (CDM)

Foreseen start date: 03/12/2018 Actual start date: 02/01/2019
Foreseen end date: 03/12/2021 Actual end date: 03/05/2022

The starting point of VEG-GAP Networking Activities was the (M1_B3) VEG-GAP
Launch Conference on 27th February 2019, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM organized in the lecture
hall Accademia di Belle Arti – via Belle Arti 54, Bologna (Italy). The conference, organized
by ENEA and the Metropolitan City of Bologna with the collaboration of the Department
of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences - BiGeA University of Bologna,
was also the first networking event foreseen in the Application form. 10 representatives of
EU LIFE and non LIFE projects related to air quality and vegetation took part in the event
(LIFE IP Prepair; LIFE MOTTLES, LIFE UrbanProof, H2020 iSCAPE, H2020
Connecting Nature).
The networking activity developed on three levels (D1_B3), European projects (LIFE and
non LIFE) level, local projects level, and local working group:
● The first level is the international level and consists of networking activities between
LIFE and non LIFE projects. At this level, as explained in D1_B3 (Networking Events List
and Draft of Networking Plan), as coordinators of the action B3, we keep in touch with the
other Life and not Life projects' contacts. The networking is realized through mail
communication, online call, and other projects’ events, conferences or workshops.
Generally, if necessary, with projects that are already part of the network, we organized
calls to enter more specifically into the respective projects' contents. At the same time, we
participated in the other projects' events and workshops already part of the network to stay
updated on VEG GAP developments, as shown in D1_B3: Networking Event List. We are
used to organize a call every time a new project becomes part of the system to know the
consortium members and its development. For every call arranged, we made a report to
keep the call's memory and the results achieved. As already mentioned, since the beginning
of the project, 18 life and non-life projects have become part of the network. We have
participated in 7 events organized by the other European projects. We have managed 6

30
specific calls to connect with individual projects (UrbanGreen; Clivut; UnaLab; Metro
Adapt; Clairo) to exchange information and support their respective projects' development.
• The second level is the local project level. It represents an intermediate level of
networking, and it consists of regional or local projects related to Municipality’ strategies.
● The third one is the local working group level that works at the municipality scale. Each
city involved in the VEG-GAP project kept the relationships with any working tables or
projects where VEG-GAP progress and results could contribute. Therefore, the local
network's goal was to ensure that the entire Municipality knew the project's progress and
considered it in the daily activities. This networking level was the most implemented in
Milan.
At a local level, in Milan, CDM has identified some active groups working on some issues
that have close connections with the contents of the VEG-GAP project. Following the
example of Milan, we also proposed to Bologna and Madrid to verify the possibility of
creating synergies with the local working groups.
The topic with which the project at the city-level has more connections are:
● Strategies to face climate change
● Forestry Strategies
● Environmental Transition Strategies
All cities have dealt with these issues, trying to develop actions and strategies with active
local working groups.
In general, the COVID situation has led to a decrease in the number of events. In particular,
concerning Milan's position, the various thematic weeks that occur during the year have
been cancelled, consequently reducing the opportunities to publicize the project. The same
situation applies to internal and external projects’ workshops. After a period of lack of
events, activities slowly started to be transferred online, defining new opportunities and
scenarios to strengthen the network and the exchange between the various projects.
Due to the health emergency, the second networking event (M2_B3) that should have taken
place in Madrid on April 30, 2020, has been postponed. As agreed during the Steering
Committee of June 5, 2020 it was decided to wait to organize the networking event and
evaluate the situation's evolution. During the partners' meetings, it was agreed that an online
networking event risked not achieving its intended purpose. It was therefore considered to
postpone it in line with the evolution of the health situation. During the Steering Committee
of September 25, 2020 we agreed to evaluate the possibility of organizing the event
remotely in a more concrete way. Given the pandemic evolution, it was finally decided to
carry out the event in person. This event was therefore held in Madrid on 28 and 29 April
2022.
KPI’s Action B3 Networking Activity
About Key Project-level Indicator (KPI) for action B3 Networking activity, we considered
the "Number of Individuals'' reached by Networking activities. The number of Individuals
means the number of people came through local or international networking activities:
workshops, meetings, events, or any training where the VEG-GAP project has been
discussed or presented.
We estimated the number of individuals reached for the entire project:
● at the beginning of the project: 0
● at the end: 1000
● Beyond 5 years: 1000
The above number is based on the sum of people reached:
● Other Projects conferences: 560 individuals
● Veg-Gap Workshops: 30 individuals (average of the first workshop in the three cities)
● Veg-Gap Net. Events (D1_B3): 86 based on the first Networking Event of Bologna

31
● Mailing-list (D2_B3): 27 (personal contacts of European project already part of the
network)
This number must be considered for the whole project and not for every city involved.
Many events related to the Life and non Life projects took place in different Italian or
Spanish cities, so it is impossible to calculate the number of individuals reached in a single
town.
Until August 2020, the project reached 701 individuals, and considering that there is
another year of the project, we estimate to reach 1000 individuals by the end of it.
To be sure about the number estimated, we collected every event and workshop we took
part in a specific file D1_B3 - Networking Events List. Within it, we specified if the event's
goal is related to the networking or dissemination strategy.
Networking activities have been coordinated by CDM, with the contribution and sharing
of all partners; in particular with MCBO in charge of B1 communication activities, ENEA
supervised all the activities. More details on action activity such as VEG-GAP mailing list,
events list, networking plan can be found in D1_B3 and D2_B3.
● D1_B3:
○ Report on the first networking event in Bologna on 27th February 2019, as a first
section of the final report on networking activities foreseen as a B3 activity deliverable
(deadline: December 2021).
○ Networking events list, in coordination with B1 activity.
● D2_B3: Mailing list Networking Activities: number of projects LIFE and non-life
contacted: 18.
The Mailing List Networking Activities, which contains 18 contact mails of LIFE and non-
LIFE projects already contacted, is a part of the Project Mailing List. Each partner shared
with the others their mailing list useful to the implementations of every single project action
gathered.

5.2. Main deviations, problems and corrective actions implemented

The main problems encountered in project implementation are due to COVID-19
emergency which poses problems in 1) recruiting additional personnel necessary for A4
Action in particular; 2) reduced availability, maintenance and support in using
computational resources; 3) some project personnel were not prepared for smart working
(lack of notebooks, software, internet connections, etc); 4) communication between project
personnel slowed down due to the fact that the administrative and bureaucratic institutional
procedures also needs calls and emails and all have to be previously agreed upon in order
to avoid overlap; 5) each partner had less support from administrative and financial staff,
with more efforts and with more investment of time; 6) the collection of data and of other
information from municipalities through meetings was practically impossible; 7) all the
partners are spending a huge effort in several virtual meetings in order to proceed the
operative tasks; 8) organizing project events and participation at
dissemination/communication events scientific and non in person was forbidden.
Due to these problems, some deliverables (D1, D2 and D3_A3; D1, D2 and D3_A4; D1
and D2_A5; D2_A6) were delayed with respect to initial schedule but realised by the end
of the project. These deliverables were interlinked and, in order to prevent an overall block
of the project, an important part of the content of these deliverables was produced and
shared between the partners in order to allow the continuation of activities in other actions
such as A3, 5 and 6 and B1, 2, 3. Therefore, the actual production of all the results foreseen
in the project for these deliverables only required more time for acquisition of input data,
performing the calculations, producing the maps and writing the reports/guidelines. There

32
were no conceptual problems or problems in models’ configuration for the current state-of-
the-art in the field of meteorological and air quality simulations. All the necessary data for
models’ input were collected from partner municipalities, except future vegetation scenario
for city of Bologna which was not made available by Bologna Municipality by the end of
project. ENEA had overcome this problem by collecting scenario for future vegetation from
TRANVIA project and from Fondazione Villa Ghigi and using them for creating a realistic
scenario for future vegetation with support from ARIANET and CREA. In addition to that,
the employment of an additional person from October 2020 and the external contractor
provided by ENEA as substitution to requested additional personnel, allowed to have the
necessary support to catch up with all delays.
Most of the deliverables of the project were updated several times during the project
lifetime if new input data or new model information reliable for the project results were
available.
The decisions on how will be used the budget not spend as planned due to COVID-19
emergency, in particular for organization of project events (M3_B1, M6_B1, M1_B2,
M2_B2, M2_B3, monitor visits and AB meetings) in person and for travels to achieve the
purposes of B actions (dissemination/communication action B1, demonstrative days of
action B2 and networking action B3) were taken from time to time, every three months
during the SC meetings and through approval of proposed changes by Project Monitor.
Same procedure was applied to subcontracts for assistance which were delayed in several
actions since the lockdown made difficult the development of the contracts, establish
coordination and provide conditions to carry on some tasks, in particular for MAD partner.
In order to not preclude other activities, D5_A2 containing maps of vegetation for the three
target municipalities, foreseen to be delivered on 31/01/2021, was made already available
to VEG-GAP partners.
The development of the Information Platform, both BASIC and ADVANCED parts,
encountered difficulties due to Covid-19 situation since it inevitably limited the
involvement and interactions with external stakeholders. However, the consortium
composition which already includes end-users and stakeholders, provided support to the
co-design phase in an effective and concrete way but with huge efforts due to difficulties
in having rapid and frequent exchanges of opinions (by phone or skype) with the
municipalities involved in the consortium and other partners. As well known, the individual
workload of staff had increased everywhere during Covid-19 years (2020-2021). To date,
the final version of information platform is ready both for public, BASIC version, and for
other stakeholders ADVANCED version.

5.3. Evaluation of Project Implementation

The project activities were implemented as planned except for the unforeseen slow down
due to COVID 19 pandemic situation which leaded to delays or actually impossibility to
recruit personnel, to have support through the external contracts and to organise project
meetings planned. For some deliverables, the delays were also due to difficulties in having
realistic future vegetation scenarios since the municipalities are just starting to prepare
them and were not ready to deliver hypothesis under discussion. Given the project
objectives, all partners agreed to wait for these scenarios applying meanwhile theoretical
scenarios in order to avoid further delays in implementation not directly related with the
quality of input data for data production (A3, A4, A5) but more on format as action A6.
However, thanks to the project prolongation granted through Amendment No. 1, by the
end of project, the project results were obtained for realistic vegetation scenarios for

33
present and future vegetation provided by partner municipalities, except Bologna for future
vegetation scenario (Section 5.2 gives details on how this was produced by ENEA).
The chosen methodologies were adequate to project purposes but improvements were
made when applied to different cities to better represent vegetation characteristics and this
required some more time for testing.
The project results are for one year, 2015, this time period is necessary for an assessment
consistent with requirements of Air Quality Directive (2008/50/CE) which is the basis for
air quality plans. Thus, the analysis of results for vegetation scenarios gave more insights
in vegetation effects on temperature and air quality similarly with those obtained from air
quality plans scenarios for anthropogenic emissions’ reductions. Thus, the project proves
which maybe the consequences of conservation and enhancement of urban green on
atmospheric state and further, on human health.
The project outcomes demonstrated to policy makers at local, regional, national and
European level the necessity to include an assessment of vegetation effects at city scale in
their air quality and climate plans, integrating the evaluation of anthropogenic emissions
control measures with urban green and NBS development contributions.
The table below show details regarding evaluation of the project implementation at action
level.
Action Foreseen in the revised Achieved Evaluation
proposal
A1. Collect relevant Report on the initiatives and projects yes All the partners contributed under ENEA’s
information on done so far and lessons learnt related coordination.
initiatives and projects to urban ecosystems/vegetation and The results were periodically updated until the end
related to urban air pollution (D1) of the project.
ecosystems/vegetation Database with the inventory of
and air pollution. projects and initiatives (D2)
(ENEA) Update of the database containing
initiatives/projects and new results
related to urban
ecosystems/vegetation and air
pollution produced during the
project lifetime(D3)
A2. Collect, evaluate Databases and maps of air pollution yes This action was supported by all partners, in
and map the air characteristics of vegetation particular by ARIANET and ENEA who
pollution ecosystems, including variables elaborated the vegetation maps based on databases
characteristics of such as location (e.g. park, garden, from municipalities. The databases on actual
ecosystems/vegetation street, …)(D1) vegetation and future vegetation scenarios were
in the partner Report on the actual vegetation collected by UPM for Madrid, ARIANET and
municipalities cover, structural and air pollution ENEA for Milan, ENEA for Bologna.
(CREA) characteristics in partner
municipalities (Bologna, Madrid,
Milan)(D2)
Report on the vegetation scenarios in
partner municipalities (Bologna,
Madrid, Milan)(D3)
Report on the state-of-the-art
ecosystems/vegetation in urban and
peri/urban green areas in
Mediterranean basin (D4)
Vegetation maps including
phenology and leaf area of the
partner municipalities (D5)
Guidelines on mapping vegetation
characteristics in urban areas (D6)
A3. Assess and map Data set and maps of BVOC yes ARIANET catch up with delays due to Covid
biogenic emissions as emissions for partner municipalities situation, making more work than foreseen in the
a function of (Bologna, Madrid, Milan) estimated project by elaborating for air quality modelling
ecosystems/vegetation for the present vegetation cover purposes vegetation databases for current and

34
type and as a function mapping and a reference year for future scenarios provided by municipalities.
of meteorological AQPs(D1) ARIANET worked in close collaboration with
conditions for the Data set and maps of BVOC UPM and ENEA in order to ensure that BVOC
partner municipalities emissions for partner municipalities model, meteorological and air quality models use
Bologna, Madrid, Milan) estimated same land use and other values/parametrizations in
for the vegetation scenarios and the a consistent way.
reference year for AQPs(D2)
Data set and maps of BVOC
emissions as a function of
meteorological conditions for
partner municipalities (Bologna,
Madrid, Milan)(D3)
Guidelines on estimating BVOC
emissions (D4)
A4. Assess the role of Databases and maps with air quality yes The outcomes of this action were reached as
vegetation ecosystem data for reference year, for different foreseen in the project. ENEA caught up with
on urban meteorological conditions and delays thanks to the availability of a new
heating/cooling and vegetation scenarios in partner additional personnel and two external contracts to
the relation with air municipalities (Bologna, Madrid, perform simulations and analyse data. The success
pollution for the Milan)(D1) of the action is own to the close collaboration with
partner municipalities Databases and maps with urban UPM and ARIANET as well as with the other
(ENEA) cooling and heating patterns(D2) partners who actively supported its
Report on assessing the role of implementation by providing data and using
vegetation ecosystem on urban preliminary data.
cooling and heating patterns and the
relation with air pollution in partner
municipalities (Bologna, Madrid,
Milan)(D3)
Guidelines on relating vegetation
ecosystem urban heat island and air
pollution for supporting AQPs of
municipalities (D4)
A5. Assess the impact Databases and maps with impact of yes UPM achieved the objectives set despite the delays
of urban ecosystems/vegetation on caused by COVID-19. UPM worked in close
ecosystems/vegetation health and ecosystem risks due to collaboration with the rest of the groups allowing
on health and their effect on air pollution in partner all the scenario simulations to be completed.
ecosystem risks due to municipalities (Bologna, Madrid, Although consistently delayed with the project
their effect on air Milan)(D1) activities that provided inputs for A5, the
pollution for the Report on the impact of urban outcomes of this action were reached as foreseen
partner municipalities ecosystems/vegetation on health in the project
(UPM) and ecosystem risks due to their
effect on air pollution in partner
municipalities (Bologna, Madrid,
Milan)(D2)
Guidelines and support tool for
estimating impact of urban
ecosystems/vegetation on health and
ecosystem risks due to
their effect on air pollution in partner
municipalities in support to
AQPs(D3)
A6 Development of an Multi-purpose information platform yes The delays of this action were partly due to delays
information platform and support tools for AQPs(D1) of actions 3 and 4. However, the Information
and tools to support User guide for information platform platform, both BASIC and ADVANCED versions
authorities (MEEO) and support tools (D2) are ready. MEEO had made huge efforts during the
co-design phase due to Covid pandemic but until
the end of the project had continuously updated the
platforms using suggestions from partners and
users. The platform has been optimised and
updated in the last year of the project, ingesting the
final simulation results on yearly basis.
Information platform available at:
https://veggaplatform.enea.it/
On-line user guide available at :
https://veggaplatform.enea.it/static/userguide/veg
gap/UsersGuide_VeggapIP2021_Basic_Advance
d_ENG.html

35
 https://veggaplatform.enea.it/static/userguide/veg
gap/GuidaUtenti_VeggapIP2021_BASIC_ADVA
NCED_IT.html
B1. Communication Dissemination/communication plan yes In spite of the complexity of the project and of
and dissemination of for stakeholders and general other problems such as delays in redistribution of
project activities to public(D1) founds, COVID -19 emergency, all objectives of
stakeholders and Additional: Other VEG-GAP action B were achieved with very good results that
general public products for reached and, in some cases, exceeded the goals
communication/dissemination: foreseen by the end of the project.
Press Kit in EN, IT; Presentation
Template EN, Template VEG-GAP
deliverables, Attendance Certificate
at meetings, Transition Slide,
Banner, Roll up, infographics
Website(D2)
Notice boards(D3)
Project leaflets (D4)
Layman’s report(D5)
Minutes of 1st Workshops in
Bologna, Madrid and Milan(D6)
Minutes of 2nd Workshops in
Bologna, Madrid and Milan(D7)
Minutes of 3nd Workshops in
Bologna, Madrid and Milan(D8)
B2. Demonstrative Report on demonstrative day in yes In spite of the delays and all problems related to
days for stakeholders Bologna (D1) Covid travelling restrictions, two of the four
interested to replicate Report on demonstrative day in demonstrative days were organized in presence in
the project Madrid (D2) Rome and Madrid. The other two were carried out
Report on demonstrative day in online, but in the framework of events at European
Milan (D3) levels ensuring thus a wide participation for
Report on demonstrative day in favouring the replication and transferability of
Rome(D4) project methodology and tools.
B3. Networking with Final report on networking activities yes This activity created liaison with other projects
other LIFE and/or (D1) and initiatives, allowing to share competences and
non-LIFE projects Mailing lists (D2) exchange information useful for project
implementation.
C1. Project Workplan document (D1) yes This action succeeded in keeping the original
management Progress Report n°1 (D2) timeline as much as possible, put in practice
Midterm Report (D3) procedures to catch up with delays without
Progress Report n°2 (D5) additional costs, favoured the interactions between
Final Report (D4) the partners in spite of difficulties posed by
COVID-19.
C2. Monitoring of Report on project indicators (D1) yes This outcome was relised with the contribution of
project progress: coordinators from actions A1 to A6.
Indicators
C3. After-LIFE After Life Plan (D1) yes The plan has been made with contributions of all
communication plan the partners.

The project approach is visible on the website and was presented at all the project
conferences, workshops, networking events, demonstrative days etc .(example VEG-GAP
workshop at European Week of Regions and Cities 2020: registration at
https://euregionsweek2020-video.eu/video/the-best-vegetation-for-improving-outdoor-
thermal-comfort-and-air-quality-in-cities).
Most of the results were made available through the Information Platform and other will
be made available through scientific and non-scientific publications after the end of project
in addition to those already mentioned in Annex4, Att1.
The efforts to transfer and replicate the project outcomes will continue as detailed in
D1_C3 After Life Plan. The dissemination and communication activities will also continue
both in person and online after the end of project as foreseen in D1_C2. The preference

36
 will be given to events in person that were not possible during COVID-19 emergency since
they allow a relevant interaction with audience, most of audience is not visible, it does not
pose questions while during the events in person each partner may contact participants,
multiplying the interactions exponentially.

5.4.Analysis of benefits
1. Environmental benefits
a. Direct/quantitative environmental benefits:
The VEG-GAP project results are basis for future evaluation of environmental
benefits as follows:
i. by showing the reduction of temperature and air pollution due to vegetation
in urban areas, support urban policy and measures for conservation of
vegetation, type and characteristics in urban areas which may be a basis also
for LIFE Nature & Biodiversity: e.g. conservation benefits for Natura 2000
(SCI/SPA) and species/habitat type(s)
ii. by showing in detail the vegetation benefits for pollution hotspots in urban
areas, it can be used as a basis for future reductions of emissions with
consequently energy savings- LIFE Environment & Resource Efficiency
iii. by showing in detail the vegetation effects on the temperature patterns/urban
heat island within the city area maybe a base for plans of increasing climate
resilience and other related urban policies.
iv. are a solid base for other projects and initiatives aiming at changing the
attitude of important stakeholders who play a role in developing long-term
urban sustainable development strategies for a better air and climate in the
city- LIFE Environmental Governance & Information
b. Qualitative environmental benefits
i. VEG-GAP results support long term management of the vegetation in
the city with positive effect for LIFE Nature & Biodiversity
ii. VEG-GAP products may be used to give a high visibility for
environmental problems and/or solutions in the city area and have a
spin-off effect in other environmental areas for long term strategies-
LIFE Environment & Resource Efficiency
iii. VEG-GAP products and results may support long term sustainable
technology; better planning; change of behaviour; spin-off effect in
other environmental areas - LIFE Climate Action
iv. VEG-GAP tools and methodologies are developed such to be transferred
of implemented to other countries or policy areas. The results may have
a future impact on EU environmental policy and legislation - LIFE
Environmental Governance & Information.
c. Economic benefits: VEG-GAP tools and methodologies, by conserving and
preventing worsening of thermal comfort and air quality, lead to cost savings
associated to air conditioning, to hospitalization and other health care costs. In
addition, by promoting the increase of green areas, the project may create new
business opportunities with new technology. The application of project tools and
methodologies creates new jobs for qualified staff in environmental matters.
d. Social benefits: VEG-GAP results may have a positive effect on employment, on
health, on ethnic integration which may be favoured by new urban green areas, on
equality and other socio-economic impacts.

37
 e. Replicability, transferability, cooperation: VEG-GAP tools and methodologies are
fully transferable, the results may be replicate anywhere and both products and
results may be developed and shared through cooperation. The project's likelihood
of replication is high in all countries/regions where air quality modelling systems
and detailed information on vegetation are available, and its replication is policy-
dependant.
f. The analysis of best practice impact is not yet mature, anyway the results are
showing that the choice of tree species to be planted in the future scenarios lead to
a very limited increment of the biogenic emissions and, in some areas, to the
reduction of some species (like isoprene) emissions thanks to the substitution of
previous land cover with low emitting vegetal species. If consolidated through other
investigations in future projects, this result may lead to creation of a best practice
in choosing the proper trees that maximize the positive effects of urban vegetation
increment.
g. Innovation and demonstration value: VEG-GAP has a high level of innovation by
integrating vegetation characteristics together with urban morphology in modelling
systems which reconstruct the urban atmosphere: meteorological and chemical
conditions; the EU added value is demonstrated by the fact that the methods and
tools developed in the project are useful for nature and emissions/air quality
management, the Information Platform maybe used to increase stakeholder
involvement at national and international levels.
h. Policy implications: The effects of vegetation on temperature and air quality
quantified in VEG-GAP should be included in air quality and climate plans of the
cities and in their sustainable development strategies at regional, national or
European levels. The Air Quality Directive (2008/50/CE) should be updated to
include assessment of vegetation effects in the air quality assessments. A possible
barrier is the knowledge of vegetation distribution and characteristics.

6. Key Project-level Indicators

Not requested. However, some indicators regarding increase of awareness among stakeholders
and citizen were estimated in the framework of B1 activities. Values and information about the
methodology used is available in Section 5, under 5.1 Technical progress by action, in the part
dedicated to B1. Communication and dissemination of project activities to stakeholders
and general public (MCBO) .

7. Comments on the financial report

Consolidated Financial Statement of the project and Financial Statements of the Coordinating
Beneficiary and of each Associated Beneficiary signed and dated together with full Excel files
are in Att. 2.
The costs incurred are somewhat different from those foreseen initially due to Covid pandemic.
As explained in Annex2 of Att.1, some budget not used for travels and accommodation and for
organizing project meetings in presence were shifted to personnel, external assistance,
consumables according to project and partners requirements.

7.1. Summary of Costs Incurred

The following table shows the project costs incurred from the beginning of the project to 3 May
2022 including also the payment of audit certificate.

38
 PROJECT COSTS INCURRED

Cost category Budget according to the Costs incurred within %**

grant agreement in €* the reporting period in
€
1. Personnel 1270188 1339731 105.48%
2. Travel and
subsistence 98770 22193 22.47%
3. External assistance 75500 142719 189.03%
4. Durables goods: total
non-depreciated cost
- Infrastructure sub-
tot.
- Equipment sub-tot. 14000 14363 102.59%
- Prototype sub-tot.
5. Consumables 70500 21846 30.99%
6. Other costs 35675 13212 37.03%
7. Overheads 109034 108315 99.34%
TOTAL 1673667 1662379 99.33%
*) If the Agency has officially approved a budget modification through an amendment, indicate the breakdown of
the revised budget. Otherwise, this should be the budget in the original grant agreement.
**) Calculate the percentages by budget lines: e.g. the % of the budgeted personnel costs that were actually
incurred

The increase of Personnel costs ids mainly due to a shift of budget from partner MAD (B2
action) who saved money by organizing online Demonstrative Days due to COVID-19
emergency to partner UPM (A4) that performed additional simulations for Madrid
Municipality for future vegetation scenarios (more details in section 5). The “Travel and
subsistence” is underspend due to COVID-19 emergency. More details in section 5.2.
The increase of External assistance costs is mainly due to ENEA shift of budget from Personnel
(2.5 years for employing a researcher with expertise in atmospheric modelling and data
analysis) to External Assistance was made with the approval of the Monitor in order to ensure
the realization of A4 deliverables. It was necessary due to difficulties in recruiting additional
personnel during COVID-19 emergency in Italy.
The little increase of Durables goods is due to the fact that ARIANET had paid more than half
for its equipment.
As for Travel and subsistence, the budget foreseen for Consumables and Other costs categories
was unspent due to COVID-19 pandemic situation and mainly used for personnel as agreed
between the partners and with monitor.
Durable goods depreciation procedures for ENEA, CREA and UPM are described in Annex7
(Att.1).
The additional costs for personnel and the external contracts had allowed to reach project goals,
accomplishing the foreseen deliverables and realizing more products such as AirVeg software
and VEG-GAP book despite the difficulties due to COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Overall, ca. 99% of the total budget of the project was spent.

39
7.2. Accounting system
Details on the accounting systems of the project partners can be found in Annex8, Att.1.
ENEA accounting system (images can be found in ENEA accountingsystem_images.pdf)is
computer-based managed by the software called SCI Sistema Contabile Integrato (Integrated
Accounting System) The LIFE18 PRE IT 003 - VEG-GAP project has the cost code number
M0EE and is classified with the CUP Codice Unico Progetto (unique project code) which is
I36C18006140006. The procedure of approving costs is hierarchical, the request made by a
researcher on institutional forms are approved by the coordinator of the project, head of
laboratory, of division and of department and then sent to other administrative offices,
according to request type and to the accountancy department. The accountancy department
registers the expense on the cost code of the corresponding project and proceeds with its
payment. Generally, the invoices contains the code number and, often, explicit statement of
project name as requested by project coordinator. Time recording system used is also
electronic; the hours worked on VEG-GAP are manually introduced and then transferred to the
project timesheets in Excel format.
ARIANET uses a computer-based accounting system managed by the software called
BUSINESS-CUBE, developed and distributed by NTS Informatica Srl, which is used to
register and account all travel expenses and durables goods expenses for the project. The
LIFE18 PRE IT 003 - VEG-GAP project cost code number is 4.047.01.0001. A sample image
showing VEG-GAP cost center can be found in file ARIANET_accountingsystem_image.pdf,
Att. 6). Durable goods invoices contain explicit reference to LIFE project name and code.
Travel expenses reimbursements are requested by employees on the basis of supporting
documentation including, in the reimbursement request form, the explicit reference to LIFE
project name and code. Travel expenses are recorded into ARIANET accounting system after
administrative management approval.
CDM doesn’t have a separate account for the management of the project, but it is recorded on
a dedicated website at national level a unique code for the project - the CUP number -, and for
every expenditure CDM records on another website at national level a single code called CIP,
which is connected to the CUP, so, every expenditure has its own recorded code and all of them
are connected to the project code.
Generally, the accountancy department registers the expense on the cost code of the
corresponding project and proceeds with its payment.
CDM regularly records in an excel file provided by the coordinator , all the hours worked
monthly by the internal and external staff involved and all the expenditures, with a separate
sheet for every budget category.
The hours worked on VEG-GAP are manually introduced and then transferred to the project
timesheets in Excel format. Timesheets are signed by the employee and by the Director of the
City Resilience Department, who can sign because he’s delegated by our Mayor, at the
beginning of the following month. The Director supervises the hours done.
Regarding travel expenditures, the employee might receive advanced money before leaving or
pay with his/her own money. When he/she’s back, there is the reimbursement procedure based
on all the expenses justification documents (i.e. train/flight tickets, hotels invoices, etc). So,
employees must collect all travel tickets and receipts to demonstrate how much he/she paid.
He/She attaches all documents to the settlement request folder and sends it to the Department
of the Municipality responsible for the salary payment.
Generally, the invoices contain the code number and, often, explicit statement of project name
as requested by project coordinator.
CREA has a centralized accounting system named TEAM-GOV. Each project has a specific
accounting code (for LIFE 18 PRE IT 003 the code is 1.08.09.52.00) identified by an Acronym
(VEG-GAP in the case). The accounting system records all the receipts and expenses of the

40
projects disposed by the project leader under the supervision of the administrative office of
each Research Centre of CREA involved. Moreover, in accordance with the Italian law
n.136/2010, art.3, Research Institutions have the obligation of traceability of financial flows
that means that every financial movement has to be tracked and related to project/activity.
CREA has its own computer-based time recording system for the scientific, technical and
administrative staff which records, on a daily basis, the working time according to the National
Labor Contract rules. Working time of temporary staff specifically hired on the project is
registered directly on the timesheet each working day under the supervision of the responsible
or delegate in case of his absence. Each purchase or expenditure is related to the project since
the phase of the order with the mandatory indication of the CUP where necessary (Unique code
of the Project: C86H19000000006) and of the CIG (identification of the administrative action:
purchase, rent, etc.). It is mandatory to indicate both codes in the payment documents, it making
the accounting system unquestionable.
MAD The economic and budgetary management is carried out at the Madrid City Council
through different processing and control services. Any income or expense is supervised and
must have the approval of the general intervention that watches over the legality of the process
and the correct economic application.
All the expense files or contract made by Madrid City Council (MAD) follows the regulatory
procedures according to the law of public administration contracts, (Ley 9/2017, de 8 de
noviembre, de Contratos del Sector Público). Technical officers make the decisions on the
needs and technical requirements of the project, and initiate the file and process that make
effective the administrative and economic services. All the expenses and contracts are
registered and approved by General Intervention.
Quarterly, all the documentation and a follow-up report on the issues related to the European
projects is sent to the Sub directorate General for Budgetary Control and Debt, which depends
on the General Intervention of the Madrid City Council, for its subsequent submission to the
Ministry of Finance:
- Certificates presented to the financing entity, both those already presented and those expected
to be presented in the current year.
- Rights and obligations recognized until the end of the quarter and those expected to be
recognized until the end of the year. The budgetary application is indicated in both income and
expenditure.
The code for the project is: 2019/F/000018 UE- Proyecto life VEG-GAP
Among the request form, all original documents are attached to the form (Flight ticket,
invoices, boarding passes, etc).
The original invoices and statements of liquidation for the missions (including flight tickets,
boarding passes, and invoices) are validated and stored by the Central administration.
Every month each researcher compiles the VEG-GAP time sheets according to what reported
in the MAD’s time sheets.
MAD uses the SAP application, a technological platform for human resources, economic-
financial and income management, for the management of files. In the SAP corporate
application, all accounting and budgetary movements are recorded, once processed by the
corresponding Department or Unit, to monitor and control the execution of the budget, the
status of budget items, the status of administrative files, the processing of invoices, credit
modifications, the execution of expenses and income for both current and closed years, and the
monitoring and status of investment projects.
MCBO is a local public authority. Its accounting system is computer based managed by the
software called CIVILIA, the cost center is the n.129. As a public body, all direct expenses
incurred are provided with a code related to the project (CUP – unique project code) and a
tender identification code (CIG). The project and the CUP is mentioned in all tendering

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documents and invoices. The VEG-GAP CUP for MCBO is C31C19000000007. The formal
LIFE timesheet template is used to track effort of people involved in to the project.
Regarding the MEEO partner, as private company, it has not a dedicated cost center to for the
the balance traceability of expenditure and income of the project. Nevertheless, the formal
LIFE timesheet template is used to track effort of people involved in to the project, and the
internal accounting system is used to register all the other costs: the reference ID (PJ1906-
0045). VEG-GAP: LIFE18 PRE IT 003) is assigned to identify the VEG-GAP project and it is
used to tag all related documents (travel costs, invoices, management documents, etc).
UPM accounting system is SIGOTT, is the information system to manage payments of research
projects. Expenses have a unique identifier in SIGOTT which are traceable and reconcilable.
UPM uses a computer software called “Portal del investigador” (Reasearcher web page) in
order to manage projects, avoiding the double charging. The LIFE18 PRE IT 003 - VEG-GAP
project has the cost code number E1905430118. The procedure of approving costs is simple,
the request made by a researcher on institutional forms are approved by the coordinator of the
project and Vice Rector for economic affairs, then sent to accountancy department who
registers the expense on the cost code of the corresponding project and proceeds with payment.
NORMADAT, is an external company that guards all invoices related to the research activity.
Time recording system used is also electronic, the hours worked on VEG-GAP are transfer to
UPM control Times at Researcher web page and also to the project timesheets in Excel format
which are signed.
All the invoices have VEGGAP LIFE STAMPS, as ENEA has described.
(screen shots of UPM web page can be found in UPM_Accounting system_images.pdf, Att. 6)
The accounting system of the VEG-GAP project uses a dedicated area on the project website
and the Excel files provided by Life Programme
(https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/section/life/life-reporting#inline-nav-3) for financial reporting
of beneficiaries and consolidated for the whole project. Each partner is responsible for the
compilation of the financial form. The files are uploaded in the private area of the website every
three months as requested in Partnership agreement. Based on them, ENEA produces the Excel
consolidated file of the project.
ENEA verify the following aspects:
- person-time reported into financial statement (sheet “Personnel”) according to time sheets
and according to technical activities;
- costs covered by invoices correctly reported in the file (number of invoices, date);
- invoices reporting the name of the project and the code LIFE18 PRE IT 003 - VEG-GAP;
- stamp on the invoices/sheets with the name of the project and the code LIFE18 PRE IT 003 -
VEG-GAP;
- an estimate of the overheads correctly reported;
- costs already covered by the budget, otherwise advice from the monitoring is requested;
- methods to estimate the depreciation, if necessary.
During SC meetings, time was devoted to financial aspect of the project according to partners
and project needs.

7.3. Partnership arrangements (if relevant)

The Partnership agreement (Annex9 in Att.1) explains how financial transactions between the
coordinating beneficiary and the associated beneficiaries have taken place and how financial
information is collected by coordinator. The distribution of the 1st and 2nd prefinancing can be
seen in Annex1 (Att.2). The partners had continuously uploaded their financial documents on
dedicated area in the project website. ENEA had checked each three months the documents
and update the consolidated cost statement based on financial reporting of partners.

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7.4. Certificate on the financial statement
The Certificate on financial statement released by externa Auditor is available in the attachment
Att2_FinancialInformation/Certificate_Auditor/Independent Report of Factual Findings
together with other three documents signed by Auditor: Terms of Reference, Individual
Financial Statements and Consolidated Financial Statement. The Individual Financial
Statements and Consolidated Financial Statement as Excel files are available in
FS_signed_Excel and the documents sent to Auditor in DocumentsCheckedByAuditor, both
folders included in the attachement Att2_FinancialInformation.
The Payment Request at Balance signed by Auditor is available in
Att2_FinancialInformation/Certificate_Auditor/Prog. Life VEG-GAP_ENEA_Consolidated
FS.pdf.

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7.5. Estimation of person-days used per action
The “Estimated % of person-days spent” is higher than foreseen since more work has been
done than planned using for Personnel part of the budget not used for Travel and subsistence,
Consumables and Other costs categories. The four month extension of project duration also
leaded to an increase of person-days budget initially estimated.

Action type Budgeted person-days Estimated % of person-

days spent

A1 187 201
A2 748 804
A3 597 641
A4 712 765
A5 632 679
A6 571 614
B1 648 696
B2 343 369
B3 190 204
C1 786 845
C2 171 184
C3 83 89
TOTAL 5668 6090

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8. List of attachments
CoverLetter_FinalReport_LifePre18IT003_VEG-GAP.pdf
FinalReport_LifePre18IT003_VEG-GAP_August2022.pdf
Att1_Annexes
Att2_FinancialInformation
Att3_Deliverables
Att4_Milestones

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