The logic, tools and objectives of the European Green Deal in Italy. A green transition plan that, in the wake of the pandemic, becomes even more central.
The European Green Deal spans many areas, different from one another yet interconnected at the same time. How relevant are they in Italy? How far along is our country on the path of the green transition? What are the specific aspects on which Europe can help us make the great leap? The numbers help us answer these questions, and to understand the revolutionary potential of the European Green Deal in Italy.
In Europe 81 per cent of natural habitats are in poor condition, particularly grasslands, dunes, marshes and fens (while forests are showing signs of improvement). The data are reported by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the study "The state of nature in Europe". Among the most virtuous countries in this respect are Cyprus, Romania, Estonia and Malta, while Italy boasts as many as 261 habitats (only France has more) but is able to adequately protect just 22 per cent of them.
On the other hand, our country performs better when it comes to safeguarding animals (a count that does not include birds), with just under 40 per cent of species considered to be in good condition, compared with a European average of 27 per cent. The WWF, however, urges us to remain vigilant, because in less than fifty years (between 1970 and 2016) the number of vertebrates inhabiting the planet collapsed by 68 per cent. Above all because their habitats have been polluted, encroached upon and destroyed. With figures like these, the imperative to defend biodiversity emerges in all its urgency.
Biodiversity is inextricably linked to food, which is the focus of the Farm to Fork strategy, which moves in the same direction as the One Health approach of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to which the health of the planet and the health of people are one and the same.
The case of antibiotics, in this sense, is emblematic. To date, they are administered not only to animals that fall ill, but also to those that have been in contact with them, and even as a preventive measure. The result? Bacteria develop resistance to these drugs. A phenomenon that, the Commission argues, costs the lives of 33,000 Europeans every year. The latest report from the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) offers a note of optimism, recording a 34 per cent drop in sales between 2011 and 2018.
Pesticides, on the other hand, do not yet seem to have gone out of fashion, despite the countless studies on their negative environmental impact. According to analysis by PAN Europe based on official databases, just under 380,000 tonnes were sold in Europe in 2018. In 2016, Italy ranked third among the countries where the most were sold, after Spain and France. Adding Germany and Poland covers 71 per cent of the EU market.
In short, Europe is strongly committed to a healthier, more sustainable agriculture. An agriculture that uses fertilisers only when strictly necessary, because in excessive quantities they deteriorate soil and water quality. Better still, organic agriculture: on this front Italy starts with an advantage, with an organic area approaching 2 million hectares, corresponding to 15.8 per cent of cultivated land.
Citizens may well commit to giving their lifestyle a sustainable edge, but their efforts risk proving futile if the homes they live in, the offices they work in and the buildings they visit for healthcare, study or administrative purposes continue to pollute without pause. On this front, the Commission makes clear, there is still much work to be done. Across Europe, buildings consume 40 per cent of energy and release into the atmosphere 36 per cent of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
And Italy? A study conducted in 2017 by the Politecnico di Milano paints a not particularly flattering picture. The most common energy class is G, while only 7.4 per cent of residential buildings and 6 per cent of non-residential ones are certified in class B or class A. It is reasonable to think that the real figures are even worse, given that only 17.6 per cent of dwellings and 21 per cent of non-residential properties hold a certification. This is hardly surprising, given that 72 per cent of Italian homes were built before 1980.
In Europe transport generates around a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. An enormous figure, 71.7 per cent of which is attributable to cars and commercial vehicles, followed (at a considerable distance) by civil aviation and shipping, both accounting for between 13 and 14 per cent. In Italy too, according to Transport & Environment, over the past forty years transport has overtaken industry as the most polluting sector.
The situation is certainly not helped by the fact that the vehicle fleet is among the oldest in Western Europe, with 45 per cent comprising Euro 0, Euro 1, Euro 2 and Euro 3 vehicles. Nor by the fact that circulation restrictions are generally unrelated to the environmental performance of the vehicles concerned, with rare exceptions such as Milan's Area B. To encourage the transition to electric models, far bolder investment in charging infrastructure will certainly be needed: today there are 13,721 charging points across 7,203 publicly accessible stations, but the map is heavily skewed towards a few northern regions and falls short on motorways.
It should not be forgotten, however, that mobility is a much broader world than the private car: and in Italy itself, since 1990, emissions from aviation and international maritime transport have doubled.
In addition to climate-altering CO2, internal combustion engines disperse fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide into the air. Substances that enter our lungs and make us ill. The data are stark: air pollution is the most serious environmental health risk for citizens of the Old Continent, with at least 400,000 premature deaths a year, followed by noise pollution, which causes more than 12,000. Italy is one of the countries that pays the highest price, with an average of more than 76,000 premature deaths every year. Especially in the Po Valley, "disadvantaged" by a combination of orographic conformation, climate and density of urban centres that make it one of the most polluted areas of all.
The most exposed? Children and young people. "Acute and chronic conditions, in the presence of a pollution source such as traffic, within a hundred metres, lead to between 36 and 64 per cent more asthma attacks. A phenomenon that in children accounts for a further 34 per cent. With an increase in persistent coughing of up to 70 per cent," pulmonologist Roberto Dal Negro explained to LifeGate. "And in adolescents the same symptoms increase by between 30 and 60 per cent." Allergies, too, manifest with greater intensity and frequency when smog is inhaled day after day. "A person with allergies living in a polluted area has 300 per cent more chance of having a crisis than someone living in healthier areas. Pollen in turn becomes a carrier of particulate matter and toxins into our respiratory tracts."
The backbone of the European Green Deal lies in the promise of zeroing out the Union's climate impact by 2050. The Union's and all member states', as the latest version of the climate law text makes clear.
Italy has taken the right path, as demonstrated by the fact that between 1990 and 2018 greenhouse gas emissions fell by 17 per cent, dropping from 516 to 428 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Ispra reports this, noting that our country shines above all for its use of renewable energy sources and for an industry that in recent years has learned to use energy more efficiently. Since 1990, greenhouse gas emissions linked to agriculture and livestock have also fallen by 13 per cent; within this category, the heaviest impact (as much as 80 per cent) is due to cattle. Against the trend, however, emissions of climate-altering gases from energy and transport have actually increased by 2 per cent compared to 1990. And we are not talking about residual categories, because together they account for half of climate-altering emissions.
In other words, Italy has so far worked to reduce its climate impact, but between now and 2050 it will have to do much more: it will have to zero it out. This demands acting in a far bolder way.
