The last meeting of the year of the Steering Council of the Venice Sustainability Foundation (VSF) was held in Venice. The work focused on a number of major issues, primarily the approval of the 2025 Program of Activities and the 2025-27 three-year budget. In addition, the following decisions were made:
- The admission of the Fondazione Diabete Ricerca onlus as a new co-founding member, which aims to develop in metropolitan Venice an innovative study on the link between environment, health and prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases.
- Regulations for the admission of VSF supporting members were adopted, establishing the possibility for them to submit project proposals or take part in ongoing initiatives.
- The Gender Equality Plan was adopted, to achieve gender balance in the composition of VSF bodies, staff and events organized by the Foundation, as well as to promote an inclusive work environment.
In the 2025 Program, the 9 thematic areas of VSF activities – Hydrogen, Energy Transition and Environment, Venice City Campus, Residentiality, Sustainable Tourism, Innovation and Venisia Accelerator, Social Inclusion, Culture of Legality, Innovative Cultural Productions – and the 4 ongoing cross-cutting projects – the development of an urban sustainability scenario for Venice and its metropolitan surroundings – have been confirmed, the accompaniment of access to sustainable finance tools, the implementation of Venice’s role as a resilience hub of the UN Making Cities Resilient 2030 partnership, the organization of the 2nd Sustainability Biennial (which will be dedicated to the relationship between urbs, the physical city, and civitas, the community that lives it, in metropolitan Venice).
The meeting was also an opportunity to review the activities brought to fruition in 2024.
Some of them are the result of VSF facilitation:
- The inauguration of the Academic Poles of Water and Restoration, within the Venice City Campus project.
- The completion of the Malcontenta Basin Park, where more than 14 thousand plants have been planted.
- The completion of an analysis on the development potential of the space economy in the Veneto region (soon to be published).
Numerous public initiatives VSF has organized. Among them:
- The 1st Venice Hydrogen Forum, dedicated to the development of the decarbonized hydrogen economy in the Mediterranean.
- The side event of the Italian Pavilion at COP29 in Baku, dedicated to Venice’s climate resilience experience.
- The Waterproof Venice exhibition, focused on the futuristic transposition of plans and ambitions for the sustainable development of the Venetian territory by some 20 VSF members.
Finally, it was mentioned how three international agreements were signed during the year:
- With the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics and with the International Trieste Foundation for Science, aimed at the implementation of joint initiatives in the area of sustainable land development.
- The European Institute for Comparative Urban Research, with which to pursue comparative studies on innovative urban business clusters.
- The Polish Foundation Institute for Eastern Studies, for mutual involvement in international seminar and dissemination initiatives.
“2024 was a significant year for the Foundation, which was engaged in a series of initiatives to promote the sustainable development of the Venetian territory. Now, that thanks to the Mose we have safeguarded the “urbs,” we must support the development of the “civitas,” through the infusion of new human capital, that is, jobs, young people and families. This is the future of Venice, but to do this we need sustainable investment. The purpose of the Foundation is to give concrete meaning to this possibility of salvation,” commented VSF President Renato Brunetta.
