Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning energy supply towards renewable sources, efficiency, virtuous infrastructure development, prevention of hydrogeological risk: these are some of the commitments the parliament is asking the government to make, on the occasion of World Environment Day, following the approval this morning in the Senate of the majority motion on climate change.

Among the commitments, however, is not the declaration of a climate and environmental emergency, which was strongly called for by the Fridays for Future Italia movement and Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, and which in Italy has already been adopted, among others, by the city of Milan: that commitment was contained in a minority motion which, however, was rejected. Around the world, 594 cities have so far signed the declaration, as well as the parliaments of Scotland and Wales.

What the parliament's motion on the environment says

Senato Repubblica @SenatoStampa

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Dopo discussione di mozioni su #CambiamentiClimatici, Aula approva mozione di maggioranza, che impegna Esecutivo su: #EcoDesign, autoproduzione distribuita di energia da #FontiRinnovabili, sensibilizzare/informare anche con #EducazioneAmbientale in scuole. Respinte altre mozioni

♥ 18💬 2 5 giu 2019 · Apri su X →

The approved motion commits the government to eight points:

1. to adopt every initiative aimed at decarbonising the economy, while in any case guaranteeing the security of the country's energy system, setting as the objective the European Union's long-term strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions;
2. to implement every measure that promotes the transition from fossil energy sources to renewable sources, in keeping with grid parity (that is, the point at which the price of renewable energy becomes more advantageous than that of conventional energy, ed.), from the linear economy to the circular economy, encouraging investment in research and eco-innovations;
3. to promote the development of eco-efficient production systems by drawing on the bioeconomy and eco-design and, with a view to reducing energy waste, to further strengthen the path of energy eco-efficiency to be applied to public and private property, including through synergies with the productive sector for the ongoing training of industry operators;
4. to put in place every initiative aimed at encouraging distributed self-production of energy from renewable sources;
5. to promote, in synergy with local authorities, awareness and information campaigns aimed at citizens on good environmental practices geared towards climate change mitigation, including through the introduction of environmental education in schools at every level;
6. to promote infrastructure development policies and interventions aimed at encouraging virtuous initiatives for sustainable urban and extra-urban mobility, including intermodal transport, to the direct benefit of the environment and ecosystems as well as human health and wellbeing;
7. to promote, in concert with the regions, local authorities and district basin authorities, within their respective competences, interventions aimed at the prevention of hydrogeological risk, as well as measures for the responsible use of land;
8. to implement all measures necessary to achieve the greenhouse gas reduction targets agreed at international and European level, taking into account the environmental, social and economic benefits associated with reducing emissions.

No to a state of climate and environmental emergency

MP Loredana De Petris (Liberi e uguali) had taken up the request of Fridays for Future Italia, tabling a motion providing for the declaration of a state of climate and environmental emergency: a motion that, however, was always unlikely to pass, given the numbers of the parliamentary majority.

Read also: The Earth is choking: World Environment Day is dedicated to air pollution

"Among young people, as the large demonstrations of recent months around the world have shown," De Petris explained, "this awareness and this sense of responsibility are spreading. Many governments, including the Italian one, remain deaf and unmoved. But the time we have left to reverse course is very short. We must act immediately, with the decisiveness demanded by an environmental emergency that threatens the very survival of the planet. The declaration of a state of climate and environmental emergency can and must be a decisive step in this direction."

Read also: Why 5 June is World Environment Day

The president of the Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico also chose to mark World Environment Day, confronting politicians with their own responsibilities: "We need to promote a new model of development guided by sustainability," he said, "focusing on energy saving, increasing renewable sources, the circular economy, and in general changing our individual lifestyles."