Green or Black Century? The crossroads - Corriere.it

Green or Black Century?  The crossroads - Corriere.it


Of PAUL CONTI

Francesco Rutelli to the challenge of the "sustainable future": it can be done, even in Italy. The new book by the former minister and former mayor of Rome dedicated to the environment is released on Tuesday 28 for Solferino

The opening statement ("nothing in the world is more important than saving humanity from climate disaster") in its evident obviousness is contradicted by the reasoning that follows immediately afterwards. In other words, that alarm, or rather that easy slogan that we hear repeated every day in all the media, is not enough to initiate the necessary, effective global mechanism of policies and above all consensus «to stop and reverse the drift that can lead us towards + 3°C of global average temperature». In addition, catastrophism is useless, indeed counterproductive ("the rapid process of identifying vaccines against Covid-19 demonstrates the capabilities of research and science in the face of new problems"). The only way to salvation, that is to direct the world towards a correct course and entrust it to the "faceless person between sixteen and thirty years old" to whom the volume is dedicated, is "knowing how to create a solid, widespread and lasting consensus towards climate policies. And therefore "indicate with transparency, punctuality, communicative effectiveness and vast popular involvement how many and which jobs will be created during the climate, energy and ecological transitions". We need a transition not imposed from above but democratically and ideally shared in the name of the common future to be safeguarded.


The former young radical Francesco Rutelli (also former national coordinator of the Federation of the Greens and former Minister of the Environment in the government of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi) returns to the theme that has always been the basic interest of his political life with the book The green century. To save the climate. History, propaganda and realitypublished by Solferino in the «Ritagli» series directed by Massimo Franco.

The green century, Rutelli argues, begins in 1970, i.e. with the first Earth Day, organized in the United States, and should end in 2070, the year in which India «according to the commitments of the Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021, should zero its CO2 emissions. That is, it will be the terminal of success, or of the proven failure, of the strategies of the international community to overcome the climate challenge". Therefore a period of time in which we will stand in the balance between the possible second part of the green century and the precipice towards the horror of a black century.

Rutelli offers a robust and articulated quantity of sources, figures, analyses, historical reconstructions. An authentic database: no ideologies and only facts. Some examples in the forest of numbers. China is the top polluting nation with 31% of global emissions but in the US those same emissions increased by 1.3% in 2022 pushing aside the commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate. Colossal changes already affect us. A third of the glaciers considered World Heritage Sites by Unesco are destined to disappear by 2050. In summer 2022 the temperature exceeded 40° in the UK for the first time ever (that "first time ever" is a grim recurrence in recent environmental news). As for Italy, there would be a thousand cases to report but it is fair to underline, thinking back to the case of Ischia, that as many as 628,808 landslides of the 750,000 of the entire European continent are Italian and that, due to drought, our country allows 40% to be lost of the resources of the water networks.

Many pieces of a mosaic. Here's another one. Renewable energies in Italy? Yes, but only on paper because, says Rutelli quoting former minister Roberto Cingolani, 70% of projects linked to renewables are at a standstill due to bureaucracy, the average duration of an authorization process in our country is seven years against an average European two years. Free solar panel everywhere? No, of course. The author (here we see the former Minister of Cultural Heritage) maintains that «the landscape limits must be linked to the intelligence and knowledge of our territories». Also because "there are great possibilities to fill the roofs of industrial and artisanal areas and modern residential areas with photovoltaic panels". The same thesis, so to speak, of Marco Magnifico, president of Fai, the Italian Environment Fund. But truly incisive choices imply courage: «Yes to the creation of technologically advanced plants for the waste cycle; yes to regasification terminals in the transition; yes to the productive transformation of industries and former industrial plants for more modern uses».

In short, that «sustainable future», an expression coined 35 years ago by Rutelli himself who here claims paternity, media success but above all value, is possible. The route is there, without aiming unrealistically at a difficult and unpopular decrease due to the massive unemployment it would produce in the short and medium term. The author explains: the International Labor Organization forecasts a need for 24 million new workers well trained for the green transition by 2030. Another 13 million in the implementation of international commitments in renewable energy. Following the specialized search engines for job offers, in the last three years there has been a 400% growth in positions linked to renewable sources.

For the Italian case, Rutelli even states that "the prospect can be exciting" in terms of numbers of future jobs with a new industrial policy to implement. But on one condition: «A government environmentalism knows and can propose and organize a coordinated program for the production and installation of heat pumps and electrolysers, multiply the accumulation batteries for each plant based on renewable sources, plan efficiency of heating, lighting and hot water» and so on, indicating a possible path which however requires «authoritative, visionary, constant and convincing directors». Because, Rutelli often repeats in his book, without consensus and without sharing a vision of the future, you won't go anywhere.

Yet the prospect of the black century should terrify us all.

The volume and the encounter


The green century. To save the climate. History, propaganda and reality by Francesco Rutelli will be released on Tuesday 28 March, for Solferino in the Ritagli series, directed by Massimo Franco (pp. 301, euro 18.50). Francesco Rutelli (Rome, 1954) until 2013 held political and institutional functions (MP, MEP, Senator; Vice President of the Council). He was briefly minister of the environment in 1993, mayor of Rome (1993-2001) and from 2006 to 2008 minister for cultural heritage and activities. Today he is president of Anica (which represents the cinema, audiovisual and digital industries) and coordinates voluntary associations and initiatives for the environment, cultural heritage and the education of young people. He chairs the Anica Academy and the Institute of European Democrats. Rutelli presents the book on Wednesday 29 March in Rome at the Pio Sodalizio dei Piceni (piazza San Salvatore in Lauro; 5.30pm) with Francesco Galanzino and Aurelio Regina, moderator Manuela Perrone

March 25, 2023 (change March 25, 2023 | 20:01)



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