A few famous phrases and many tic – tac. The climate clock clock that Minister Roberto Cingolani and the CEO of Restore Energy Services have installed on the facade of the Ministry of Ecological Transition in Rome, has started. A countdown to climate goals. The instrument represents the government's will to build a more sustainable country. World Environment Day is behind us but Cingolani said he trusts a lot on new technologies.
The clock should beat the time until 2050, the year in which CO2 emissions should be completely reset. But “if we're good and we're lucky, we could even speed up and be quicker. I hope technology helps us,” added the Minister. The display will show the percentage of energy produced from renewable sources around the world and the thoughts of artists, scientists and activists known for their environmental commitment. So eyes and head.
Italy arrives on the clock one year after New York and aims to give greater vigor to green campaigns, especially among young people. However, it must be clear that the ecological steps envisaged for the next few years will not be painless. Nobody thinks that the processes to be put in place will be at no cost.
Yup, Europe will strongly support the 2026 plans, but Cingolani showed realism at the Trento Economics Festival. As if his intervention had the same value as the clock on the facade of the Ministry. At least from a message point of view, we think. Why? To become sustainable you need to resort to new installations to have more renewable energy. But this, to begin with, “has a price in terms of landscapes”. We will have to come to terms with it, albeit a concerted one. And i will not be enough five years marked by the Recovery plan to see the scenarios changed.
It also needs to be done deal with progress, industry, consumption, collective and individual behaviour. If the Minister intends to “pass from a growth model at the expense of the planet to a growth model for the planet” needs allies. That is, of all of us.
Convergence towards these objectives will be necessary, especially as the political time horizon of Draghi and Cingolani will go beyond the current government. This is why it is important to bring the quid that agitates many environmental associations back to its true dimension, made up of investments, habits, real life.
Stop demonizing the industry was heard at the Trento Festival, acknowledging the current government a responsibility that Italians do not always grasp in other leaders. Are these today the best? It's not obvious, they just have more ability and determination, as well as a less evanescent style.
Finally, it is useless to deny the country's structural and social inequalities. The timing of the ecological transition will not be the same everywhere. There will be no simultaneity in sustainable breakthrough. As there has never been in all infrastructural or energy transformations: from electricity, to water, to methane supply, to waste. It is essential that the countdown on the facade of the Ministry of Transition does not stop.
