On 17 February, an online meeting was held to present the environmental aspects of the Bologna Estate 2026 call for proposals, organised within the framework of the European MINEV project by the Metropolitan City of Bologna in collaboration with the Municipality of Bologna and ANCI Emilia-Romagna.

The opening remarks were delivered by Erika Gardumi, who outlined the project of Bologna Estate: a summer events programme born within the Municipality of Bologna and progressively extended to the entire metropolitan area, with the Metropolitan City directly managing the call since 2024. The figures from the 2025 edition report 150 projects in the call for proposal, 44 funded for a total of €100,000, almost 300,000 spectators, 2,191 appointments across 220 venues in 53 municipalities. This broad reach made Bologna Estate the ideal testing ground for experimenting with policies to reduce the environmental impact of events.

Alice Menegatti, representing the Metropolitan City of Bologna, presented the MINEV project, funded by the Interreg Europe programme and developed in partnership with five European cities and regions whose objective is to make large-scale events more sustainable through the collection and adaptation of good practices at the territorial level. To give substance to these objectives, Bologna Estate was identified as a tool for implementing the project's policies. In fact, part of the funds from last year's call for proposals were allocated to organizations that committed, through an environmental checklist, in order to reduce consumption during events. The data collected on this practices that emerged during Bologna Estate 2025 were then reported by Menegatti.

Lucia Brunetti presented the Bologna Estate 2026 call for proposals published on February 6 and with a deadline of March 12, clarifying that the Metropolitan City's call for proposals is reserved for projects that take place mainly outside the Municipality of Bologna. She illustrated the eligibility criteria, the evaluation framework, and the forms of support available: inclusion in the official program and financial contributions covering up to 80% of eligible costs, with a minimum amount of €1,500 and a maximum of €7,000, paid upon submission of financial reports within 90 days of the project's conclusion.

Then, Paolo Azzurro, Head of the Waste and Circular Economy Area at ANCI Emilia-Romagna, provided a technical framework on waste prevention at events. Azzurro illustrated the environmental checklist included in the call for tenders, a tool for event planning.

The checklist covers the following thematic areas:

• Waste: distinction between prevention actions, primarily achieved through the shift from single-use to reusable items, and waste management actions such as separate collection. Paolo Azzurro emphasized that the use of compostable materials does not constitute a prevention strategy and introduced the regulatory framework governing single-use products, referencing the 2019 SUP Directive and the 2025 Packaging Regulation.
• Water: promotion of access to tap water for participants, particularly relevant for outdoor summer events, in order to reduce the consumption of bottled water and the related waste.
• Energy: reduction of energy consumption and use of renewable energy sources, with practical low-cost measures such as LED lighting, use of natural light, and directional audio systems.
• Sustainable mobility: dedicated communication to encourage the use of existing public transport infrastructure and cycling lanes, with the option to specify additional actions in the checklist.
• Food: overlap with the waste theme in relation to food and beverage service, with attention to product sourcing, short supply chains, and food waste reduction.