Other than the Green New Deal and Next Generation EU: according to the IEA, the International Energy Agency, the measures adopted and the investments allocated by many countries will only tickle CO2 emissions in the next two years. Indeed, after the decline in 2020 thanks to the various lockdowns, the main cause of global warming and its devastating effects will even tend to become more relevant. In other words, at least in the immediate future, global carbon dioxide emissions not only show no signs of decreasing but between now and 2023 they will reach their all-time record and thereafter they should continue to increase. The problem is the project: to get out of the pandemic crisis, the states have invested a total of 16.000 billion dollars in fiscal measures. A monstrous amount but mainly intended for healthcare and businesses, while only 2.300 billion have been allocated for economic recovery and of these only 380 billion, i.e. just 2% of the total, will actually be for long-lasting clean energy projects.
According to the IEA, the situation has improved with Covid, but not enough: at least 1.000 billion dollars of additional investments would be needed every year, for at least three years. The picture is alarming especially in poor and emerging countries, where the resources allocated represent just 20% of what would be necessary to achieve the decarbonisation objectives. The gap between the richest countries is therefore widening, who all in all are trying, and the others who don't even have the prospect of doing anything significant. Furthermore, it being understood that the same objectives set by the Paris Agreements and by the European Union itself are timid in themselves: a recent UN report he hypothesized irresistible devastating effects already in the short term, well before the dates set by the institutions which would be too late (2050 for complete decarbonisation, for example). According to the United Nations, there is a 40% probability that the fateful limit of 1,5 °C will already be exceeded before 2025, therefore in a very few years.
The IEA still dwells precisely on the gap between the North and the South of the world, recalling that at the COP21 in Paris, Western countries made the commitment to finance with 100 billion dollars a year for 10 years the energy transition of the poorest countries. Commitment obviously not kept. And it is a lost opportunity, again according to the IEA, also from an economic point of view: green energy also means growth, jobs and industrial opportunities. The ecological agenda is becoming ever tighter and this will be discussed on 22-23 July in Naples, on the occasion of the G20 of Environment Ministers.
