Hearing that Italy is in a recession always has a certain effect, probably because we have become accustomed to the idea of continuous progress and growth. According to official statistics, Italy is the eighth largest economy in the world, but numerous estimates of the growth rate of the Italian GDP are negative for the whole of this year and also for a good part of next.
In this context, a historic Italian problem is ours heavy dependence on fossil fuels, an element that weighs heavily on our trade balance.
However, this situation should not make us despair, on the contrary it should bring to mind the words of the American economist Paul Rommer: "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. Periods of crisis are in fact moments in which much is called into question and it is possible to lay the foundations for a new start. After all, as children teach, when you are on all fours you are in the best position to get up.
The OECD has recently become the bearer of an idea of development which is contained in the expression "green growth”. This is not conceived as an alternative to sustainable development, but should rather be considered as a kind of subset of it. As the OECD points out, there is no universal recipe for applying green growth strategies but it is based on the idea that sustainable development aspects should not be considered as complementary (or sometimes in antithesis) to economic development policies but as an integral part of them. Basically what is proposed is an integrated vision of the two policies.
Examples of this vision of the world are many, but perhaps the easiest to understand are related to the world ofenergy. The development of energy efficient technologies reduces the production cost for companies and increases their international competitiveness, while at the same time reducing emissions. Another striking example is the technologies for the production of renewable energy, sectors on which some countries have built a real world record.
However, in order to develop these industries far-reaching and wise policies are needed. Just a few days ago (11 October 2012) in Paris, in the presence of the Minister of the Environment Corrado Clini, the OECD report on'environmental performance of Italy. A discussion that underlined the various merits of Italy but also the areas in which further improvements are possible. In particular, it should be remembered that the taxation on fuels is very high without however reflecting the different carbon content of the various fuels and producing a non-homogeneous price for CO2. Even the recent excerpt from the fiscal delegation decree of article fourteen on environmental taxation certainly does not go in this direction.
It is important to underline how taxation based on the content of harmful emissions it does not mean new taxes but moving towards the possibility of recalibrating the existing ones by keeping tax revenues stable and at the same time introducing criteria that take into account the harmful effect of the different fuels. A certainly difficult process in Italy, also because, applying these criteria, diesel, essential for road transport in a country where about 90% of goods move by road, would have no reason to be less taxed.
However, it should not be underestimated how the new taxation of Nox and Sox emissions following the introduction of an ECA (Marine Emission Controlled Area) in the Baltic Sea has prompted important innovations. In fact, engines for low-emission ships have been designed and produced which now, with the creation of ECAs in other areas (such as along the US coasts or, in the future, in some areas of the Mediterranean) seem to find new markets. It is no coincidence that Wärtsilä, a leading company in the sector, has started a Trieste an industrial research project with a group of companies, universities and research centers which led to realization of the first feasibility and economic convenience study of a liquefied natural gas plant for a medium-sized long-range cargo ship. Is it therefore possible that a mistake has been made with the removal of the article on the imposition of environmental taxation?
