Pisa, 26 January 2022 - The Municipality of Pisa, OLT and Arbolia have inaugurated an urban forest of over 1600 plants between the "Darsena Pisana" and the Galileo Galilei International Airport, near a bike path. The initiative has been made possible thanks to the contribution of OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, owner of the regasifier, anchored off the coast between Livorno and Pisa, in operation since 2013, together with Arbolia, a benefit company set up in the second half of 2020 to develop new green areas in Italy.

A total of 1,666 trees of different tree species (poplars, elms, plane trees, ash trees, lime trees, field maples) and shrub species (hawthorns, privets, viburnums, mastic trees) were planted. When fully operational, the new green area will absorb up to 149 tonnes of CO₂ over 20 years and up to 392 kg of PM₁₀ per year. The initiative also includes maintenance of the new urban forest for the first two years by Arbolia and subsequently by the municipality. The project will immediately become an asset for the local community and it is essential that everyone takes care of it.

The new green belt was presented today by the City of Pisa's Councillor for Urban Green Areas Raffaele Latrofa and two OLT managing directors, Giovanni Giorgi and Maurizio Zangrandi.

Raffaele Latrofa, councillor for green areas and urban quality care of the Municipality of Pisa, greeted the implementation of the project with great satisfaction: "The urban afforestation work we are presenting today is another important achievement in Pisa's journey towards ecological transition. The Municipal Administration has drawn up an urban forestation plan which, apart from this intervention of 1600 trees, has also already provided for the planting of 400 trees in the Cisanello area, distributed in the four woods dedicated to newborns, 70 lime trees along Via di Cisanello and 60 plane trees along Viale delle Cascine. In addition to this, work is underway on the new parks in Via Bixio, with 114 trees, in Cisanello, where 500 new trees will be planted, and a major project is planned in Via di Pungilupo, with 1800 trees. These are important figures that give a good idea of the concrete commitment of our administration to the care of green areas and the use of new planting as a resource to improve the environment in which we live and which we will leave to our children. We will continue to do this in the future, certain that the environmental challenge is the main commitment for city administrators in the coming decades. I would like to thank OLT and Arbolia for making this great afforestation project possible, which will contribute to improving the quality of the area to the benefit of all citizens."

"With this project Arbolia creates its first urban forest in Tuscany, thanks to the collaboration with the Municipality of Pisa and the contribution of OLT, a company with strong ties to the territory. Creating new green belts in Italy is our mission and we will continue to promote concrete actions to improve ecosystems and safeguard biodiversity, for the benefit of air quality and life in our cities," commented Salvatore Ricco, CEO of Arbolia.

With the Pisa forest, the number of green belts created by Arbolia in nine Italian cities rises to eleven. In the next few months, the benefit company will develop initiatives in a further twenty Italian municipalities from the North to the South of the country.