What does it mean to develop the resilience of local communities so we can adapt to a changing climate? Let's find out by following the Ioniq 5 climate tour by Hyundai and LifeGate.
"Even if fear will always have more arguments, choose hope." These were the words of the Latin philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca to his friend Lucilius almost two thousand years ago. A sentence that could aptly describe why we at LifeGate, long committed to telling you about the world of sustainability and the main solutions to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere to tackle global warming, have decided to embark on a journey together with Hyundai to document the stories of resilient places across our country in the Ioniq 5 climate tour.
We know all too well that "fear", represented by the effects of ongoing climate change, has a great many compelling arguments. Cop26, held in Glasgow last November, once again highlighted the urgent need to act swiftly to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere in order to limit the increase in global temperature to 2°C by the end of the century. The price of failure: an exponential rise in extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, cloudbursts and floods in populated areas, as well as heatwaves, droughts and, conversely, sudden frosts. And further: the melting of Alpine glaciers, an increased risk of wildfires with the consequent loss of hectares of woodland needed to contain emissions, ocean acidification, a reduction in arable land, and much more besides.
Ecosystems, which are immensely precious to our survival because they help us combat global warming and guarantee social stability through the services they provide, are already suffering severe damage from the combined effects of climate change and human activity. Due to deforestation, for example, in 2020 alone, 4.2 million hectares of humid tropical primary forests were destroyed worldwide. And wildfires have not spared the planet's green areas either: in Italy alone, more than 150,000 hectares of woodland were lost in 2021.
Furthermore, the loss of underwater meadows — at a rate equivalent to one football pitch every half hour — risks undermining CO2 reduction efforts: Posidonia oceanica is capable of storing twice as much carbon dioxide as forests of equivalent area. According to Legambiente, finally, while half of the country's sandy coastlines are subject to erosion due to coastal development and climate change, Italy's glaciers will have lost around 90 per cent of their volume between 1850 and the early years of this century as a result of rising global temperatures.
These are just some of the reasons why the UN has chosen to dedicate the decade 2021–2030 to ecosystem restoration around the world. The effect is to improve the resilience of local communities — that is, their capacity to withstand environmental shocks and to repair any damage sustained.
Like the UN — and like Seneca — we too choose hope, embodied in the actions to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the many good practices implemented by regions, municipalities, companies and individual virtuous citizens to protect the health of local communities and people. Our travelling companion in the discovery of the country's resilient places will be Hyundai, the car manufacturer that has formally committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. We will travel across the country aboard an Ioniq 5, an electric vehicle that also stands as a genuine example of how the circular economy can support the automotive industry, and we will document the most interesting ecosystem restoration experiences through articles and video interviews.
"Within the framework of our Progress for Humanity vision, Hyundai is determined to do the right thing for the world," says Andrea Crespi, Managing Director of Hyundai Italia. "Climate change is an undeniable challenge that demands the utmost and most urgent attention from everyone, and makes a firm commitment necessary. As a provider of smart mobility solutions, Hyundai is committed to being carbon neutral in its products and global operations by 2045. The investment plan includes cleaner transport and greener energy solutions to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all."
"For over twenty years we have been promoting sustainability as harmony between people and the environment, which is fundamental to preserving ecosystems and every living form on this planet," comments Enea Roveda, CEO of LifeGate. "Talking about climate change today represents a commitment to future generations, a responsibility that Hyundai has courageously decided to communicate — through the story of a resilient Italy that has managed to adapt to a changing climate — by launching with us a message of awareness about how the health of the environment around us is closely linked to our lives, and how the actions taken to protect it are essential."
The first leg of our journey will be Trentino-Alto Adige, to discover the places struck in 2018 by storm Vaia, the extreme event that razed to the ground the Norway spruce forests depicted in the novels of Mario Rigoni Stern and used by Stradivari for his violins. We will be guided by Paolo Kovatsch, technical director of the Provincial Agency for State Forests of the Autonomous Province of Trento, who oversees the recovery and restoration of provincially owned woodland areas, and by Marco Mina, a researcher at the Institute for Alpine Environment at the University of Bolzano, engaged in the study of forest landscape restoration.
And after the Vaia sites? Our journey will take in scorched forests and retreating Alpine glaciers, eroded and restored coastlines, farmland that has improved its yields and is withstanding a changing climate thanks to organic, sustainable and precision agriculture and the use of heritage seeds… The experiences of a resilient Italy are many and varied: discover them with us, by following the legs of the Ioniq 5 climate tour.
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