If prime minister-designate Mario Draghi succeeds in forming a new government, it will for the first time include a ministry of ecological transition. Following the example already set by two other European nations, France and Spain.

The heads of Wwf, Greenpeace and Legambiente received by Mario Draghi

The news was released by the non-governmental organisations that were consulted by Draghi himself on Wednesday 10 February. In particular by the president of Wwf, Donatella Bianchi, according to whom in order to make Italy more competitive and sustainable and to accelerate the ecological transition "it is necessary to spend well the resources allocated by Europe and to identify as effectively as possible the projects to work on. But it is also important to open a new season of cross-cutting reforms, citizen participation and territorial sharing."

The meeting with the prime minister-designate was also attended by the president and director of Greenpeace Italia, Ivan Novelli and Giuseppe Onufrio, and the president and director general of Legambiente, Stefano Ciafani and Giorgio Zampetti. The three associations stated that "first and foremost, what is needed is a bold vision and coherent objectives, with greater simplification on the green economy, combined with more effective public oversight, a competent bureaucratic organisation that is professionally up to date and equal to the challenge."

M5s also called for the creation of a ministry of ecological transition

But what is also needed, the three NGOs continued, is "greater involvement of citizens, including through a new public debate law covering all works for the green transition. These are reforms that are necessary to guarantee the quality of projects, the speed of spending and certainty that the rules will be respected, and which urgently need to be put in place as soon as possible."

The request had also come from a political party, the Movimento 5 stelle, whose leader Beppe Grillo openly expressed himself on the need for a "super ministry for ecological transition. Soon everyone will have one. I'm not the one saying it. Nature, the economy, society are crying it out to us."

The (not to be repeated) French experience

It will be necessary in any case to verify what powers will be concretely assigned to the new ministry of ecological transition. And, above all, whether there will be broad consensus across the entire executive on environmental and climate issues. In the case of France, for example, the ministry had been established for the first time in 2017, at the start of President Emmanuel Macron's term, when the prime minister was Edouard Philippe. It had also been entrusted to a prominent figure from the French civil society sector, Nicolas Hulot. The latter, however, resigned in August 2018, lamenting the "few steps forward" that had been made and stating, barely holding back tears: "I had the feeling I was alone, rowing."

The ecological transition in fact demands a collective effort that cannot concern a single ministry. What is needed is an overarching strategic plan, one that involves the economy, energy, transport, taxation, the rules imposed on the world of finance, the industrial sector and the construction sector. "We need a 'whatever it takes' for the climate," the movement Fridays for Future summed up extremely effectively. Quoting the most famous phrase uttered by Mario Draghi when, in July 2012, the task at hand was saving the euro in the face of the global financial crisis. Now the task is saving the Planet in the face of the climate crisis. With the same energy.

Ciafani: "Overcome the dichotomy between the ministries of the environment and of economic development"

For this reason, Ciafani explains to LifeGate, it is necessary to "ensure that it is a competent ministry. Because we have no time to start from scratch, given that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan must be submitted by 30 April. To avoid the French failure, we must overcome the incomprehensible dichotomy between the ministry of the environment and that of economic development. The authorisation processes in the industrial and energy sectors — and therefore the permits for new green chemistry, biomethane and renewable energy plants — go through the latter, so we can say that this ministry too deals with the environment."

For the president of Legambiente, these are processes "that paralyse the transition, that lead to missing many opportunities. So, with a ministry dedicated to ecological transition, we must not simply change a nameplate, but knock down the walls that exist between different ministries and create a large open space. For now, the desirable goal would be this merger, and then one day to also bring the ministries of infrastructure and transport and that of agriculture into this open space."