Roads CAM: minimum environmental criteria for road infrastructure

The roads CAM are the minimum environmental criteria for the design, construction, maintenance and upgrading of public road infrastructure. They were adopted by the decree of the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security of 5 August 2024, published in Official Gazette no. 197 of 23 August 2024 and in force since 21 December 2024, then amended by the corrective decree of 11 September 2025. They require more recycled material in pavements, asphalt mixes laid at lower temperatures, waste recovery and documentary proof for every requirement.

What the roads CAM are and which text applies today

The roads CAM implement the National Action Plan for green public procurement and are mandatory under Article 57(2) of the Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree 36/2023). As with the other CAM, technical specifications and contract clauses must always be included in tender documents, while award criteria assign points in the technical offer.

MASE also publishes an unofficial consolidated text of the technical annex, which incorporates the corrective decree and is the most convenient reference to work with. As of October 2026 no further amendments have been published in the Official Gazette.

Who they apply to

The roads CAM apply to all contracts and concessions for works and design services relating to roads, as defined by the Highway Code, and to ancillary works: connected squares, pavements and car parks. For green areas along roads and cycle paths, the CAM on public green spaces apply instead.

Four parties are involved:

• contracting authorities, which include the criteria in the design brief and in tenders;
• designers, who draw up the CAM Report and set out requirements and means of proof in the specifications;
• contractors, who apply the clauses on site and hand the documentation to the works supervisor;
• producers of asphalt mixes, aggregates, concrete and precast products, who provide proof on the materials.

The 2025 corrective decree also applies to procedures already under way when it came into force. It also provided a 180-day window to derogate from the roads CAM in tenders based on designs not subject to the 2024 decree: that window closed in March 2026.

The most relevant design criteria

The design chapter contains very concrete technical criteria. The main ones:

• durability: for new pavements and deep rehabilitation the reference service life is 20 years, excluding the wearing course;
• laying temperature: for urban roads and non-urban sections less than 1,000 metres from a built-up area, a maximum of 120 °C (warm mixes), with exceptions at 140 °C for modified bitumens or layers with acoustic performance. Beyond 1,000 metres the limit is 150 °C, or 165 °C for modified bitumens;
• urban heat: a solar reflectance index (SRI) of at least 20 for new type F urban roads and at least 29 for car parks, cycle paths, pavements and squares;
• noise: on category A, B and D roads and on sections subject to noise abatement plans, wearing courses with emissions measured using the CPX method below the decree’s limits;
• water and subsoil: green strips, runoff drainage and ducts for utility networks.

The criterion with the greatest economic impact concerns the reuse of reclaimed asphalt: in deep rehabilitation that includes the sub-base, the design must allow at least 70% recovered or recycled material or by-products to be used, and in new roads at least 20% reclaimed asphalt pavement by volume of the pavement layers.

How much recycled material is needed

The criterion on the circularity of construction products sets minimum percentages, by dry weight of the finished product, for each layer. In works on existing roads, the recovered material must come, as far as possible, from the same road body.

For rigid pavements the concrete slab must contain at least 5%, as must block pavements. Cold mixes used for emergency repairs need at least 20% reclaimed asphalt. Concrete, precast elements, steel and timber follow requirements similar to those of the building CAM.

Means of proof: how compliance is demonstrated

Verification happens at three stages: in the tender for the award criteria, during design verification for the technical specifications, and on site, where the works supervisor checks products and clauses on the basis of test reports, certifications and other documents.

For recycled content the designer must indicate one of the accepted proofs: an EPD compliant with UNI EN 15804 with the percentage among the additional information, ReMade, Plastica Seconda Vita or VinylPlus (for PVC) certifications, mass balance certifications such as CP DOC 262, certifications under UNI/PdR 88 or Made Green in Italy. Certifications must be issued by accredited bodies, and test reports by laboratories authorised or accredited to UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025.

An important exception: these certifications are not required for road body materials or for pavement mixes produced on site. In these cases compliance is documented through the CAM Report and the works supervisor’s checks. If you produce materials, the options are explained in the guide to CAM certifications for manufacturers.

What they ask of sites and contractors

The clauses for works directly affect how the contractor is organised:

• asphalt plants equipped for reclaimed asphalt, with covered storage of sand and reclaimed material, fuels such as methane, LPG, HVO or biofuels, photovoltaics and management of fumes, dust and odours. A derogation is only allowed if there are not at least two compliant plants within 90 minutes’ haulage;
• waste: at least 70% by weight of non-hazardous site waste, excluding excavated material, sent for reuse, recycling or recovery, with selective demolition according to UNI/PdR 75 in deep maintenance;
• the successful bidder’s CAM Report, with management choices, material requirements and means of proof to be delivered.

Award criteria include ISO 14001 or EMAS certification extended to site activities, improvement proposals demonstrated by an LCA study, an ESG risk attestation issued by a body accredited to ISO/IEC 17029, products aligned with the EU Taxonomy, and steel, lime and clinker from plants covered by the EU ETS.

The 70% requirement calls for reliable figures on the waste delivered. With Envify you can read waste forms (FIR) automatically and keep an up-to-date register of the quantities sent for recovery, which is also useful for your sustainability report.

How to prepare

If you work on road tenders, it pays to move before the call for tenders:

1. use the MASE consolidated text and check which criteria apply to the type of work, because new construction, deep rehabilitation and surface maintenance have different rules;
2. if you produce asphalt, check that the plant can handle the required reclaimed asphalt percentages and document fuels, storage and controls;
3. ask suppliers of aggregates, concrete and precast products for certificates on recycled content, with the issuing body and expiry date;
4. organise waste traceability from the first day on site, starting from the FIR and RENTRI;
5. assess which award criteria you can already meet, such as ISO 14001, EMAS or an ESG attestation, and which ones take time.

Infrastructure funded by certain European funds, such as the 2021-2027 cohesion policy funds, also requires climate proofing: the data collected for the CAM, such as materials, emissions and maintenance scenarios, is useful there too.

Frequently asked questions