A petition is available to sign, calling on the capital's administration to declare a climate and environmental emergency, ahead of the pre-COP that Italy will host.
"I launched this petition so that the capital of Italy may proclaim the climate and environmental emergency. I consider it an act of great utility, but also of genuine sensitivity, because for months young people all over the world, through the great Fridays for Future movement, have been mobilising and calling on every institution on the planet to declare this emergency, and then make decisions accordingly." These are the words of Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, president of the fondazione Univerde and promoter of the Opera2030 campaign.
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Listen to "Firma la petizione per chiedere a Roma di dichiarare l'emergenza climatica e ambientale" on Spreaker.
The petition, already signed by more than 20,000 people on change.org, is addressed to Rome's mayor Virginia Raggi, to the president of the Assemblea capitolina Enrico Stefano, to all group leaders and to the president of the Environment committee, Daniele Diaco. The aim is for the Italian capital to follow the example of the nations and cities that were the first to declare a state of emergency due to climate change: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and, in our own country, the municipality of Milan and that of Acri, in Calabria. And then, as a consequence, to take concrete as well as timely action to counter rising temperatures — as called for by the students who every Friday, inspired by Greta Thunberg, take to the streets in the name of the climate.
Were the request to be granted, as hoped for by, among others, Marevivo, Cetri (Circolo europeo per la terza rivoluzione industriale), LifeGate, Greenstyle and the Sapienza university, it would represent a sign of hope following the news about COP 26. Another petition, also launched by Pecoraro Scanio and signed by 100,000 people, had convinced Environment Minister Sergio Costa to put Italy forward as a candidate to host the United Nations climate conference in 2020. Despite this, the event will be held in the United Kingdom: perhaps due to the "substantial investment" that, as Milan's mayor Beppe Sala pointed out, its organisation would entail.
Read also: Niente Cop 26 in Italia
"I believe England was advantaged precisely by the fact that the Westminster parliament proclaimed the environmental emergency and is proving very proactive on the front of tackling climate change," explains the president of Univerde.
At the very least, our country will host the preparatory work for the conference — the so-called pre-COP — and a meeting aimed at young people who, during the youth COP, will have the opportunity to present their demands to leaders from around the world.
"Great Britain, like Italy, has great ambitions and I am sure we will work very well together, so as to change the environmental paradigm: only in this way will climate action be effective," Costa declared. To succeed in putting out the fire, however, one must be aware that one's own house "is on fire" — and to be so, the alarm must sound.
