An interview with Bologna mayor Virginio Merola. From local environmental policies to international climate coordination, by way of “pressure from below”.
Virginio Merola has been mayor of Bologna since 2011. After a first term leading the Emilian capital, he was re-elected in 2016 with 54.6 per cent of the vote. On environmental issues he is a firm advocate of the need to act on multiple levels: while, for example, much has been done and continues to be done on the question of mobility, issues such as construction will need to be addressed far more decisively in the future if climate targets are to be met. And national and international coordination will be crucial.
Last June, ahead of the G7 Environment summit, Bologna was described as the "capital of sustainability". What momentum has come out of your city?
Bologna managed to seize an opportunity that arose from the G7 Environment summit — namely, a meeting with all the metropolitan cities — which produced a starting point: the Bologna Charter for the Environment. A shared document in which we summarised all the United Nations and European Union objectives on environmental sustainability. It should be said that sustainability is not solely linked to the environment, but that is where we started because we are aware that climate change is a problem we have a duty to tackle head-on.
In concrete terms, what progress have you made?
We have set a series of objectives and, above all, we have put funding behind them. Financing is crucial for giving substance to the issues that have also been raised by the urban agenda for sustainable development. The reality is that there is a great deal to be done, but actions need to be integrated across the various cities in order to be effective: from mobility to climate programmes. We, for instance, already have a plan for adapting the city to climate change and one on sustainable energy. And on mobility too we are moving towards increasing public transport, while at the same time encouraging non-polluting private electric transport.
How can you ensure that the policies you are talking about are shared among the various cities?
We are asking the government to launch a national urban agenda capable of coordinating all these activities. A single directing hand is needed. Also because, among other things, such an agenda exists within the European Union whilst Italy still does not have one…
You mentioned Bologna's climate change adaptation plan: what risks does the city face?
The climate has changed and is changing everywhere. In Bologna we are focusing in particular on the sewage system: a problem that tends to be underestimated, but which, given the sometimes tropical rainfall that hits the area, is in fact extremely topical. We also need to work on water management: we have a series of underground canals running through the city and we must ensure investment to prevent water resources from declining too sharply, which could risk causing stagnation. In this respect, maintenance is essential. At the same time, we need to approach the construction sector in new ways: we have banned building on the city's agricultural land and we must focus on green building and energy saving. Then there is the question of residential heating. All of which is to say that while we have already made considerable progress on mobility, there is a broader issue to be addressed. An issue of urban regeneration. Clearly the problem of climate change remains global, but we need to take the work of cities seriously. Supporting it, I repeat, at national level.
In Paris, the Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, president of the C40, has decided to fight hard against diesel vehicles. The aim: to ban them from the urban area in the medium term. And in the long term, the idea is to ban petrol cars too. Is Italy ready for such policies?
I agree that we should no longer accept polluting vehicles, not just diesel ones. If the proposal is to say: "Let's set a deadline beyond which European cities no longer allow polluting cars to circulate", I am in favour.
Beyond the choices made by public authorities, however, there is the behaviour of companies that also has an impact. In the United States some major cities have taken large fossil fuel multinationals to court: is that something that could be replicated in Italy?
Rather than launching legal actions, I would prefer to say that we are ready to roll out the red carpet for anyone who decides to abandon fossil fuels and convert to other sources.
Perhaps also thanks to pressure from public opinion. Do you think citizens are sufficiently aware of environmental problems?
I think so. The demand for environmental action is very strong.
Do you think it is possible to imagine a "cross-party environmentalist movement"? One that is defined not so much by political affiliation as by the cross-cutting necessity of protecting the Planet?
Common sense would suggest so. The point, however, is that today there are figures like Donald Trump in the United States. And elsewhere authoritarian democracies in which the question of energy is no longer purely environmental but touches on other issues. That said, a cross-party environmentalist movement should be at the very least European in scope. Of course, if someone in the world argues that their own production must be protected against that of others, I am not sure how much progress can be made…
International collaboration is therefore needed too: can you tell us what the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Environment is and what results it has achieved?
It is a European-scale initiative. We have set 17 objectives ranging from the number of square metres of public green space to be created by certain deadlines to the actions to be taken to reduce pollution. It is important, however, that all of this be backed by a financial commitment: that is why we have included the necessary appropriations in our multi-year budget. The benefit of having concrete objectives is that citizens will find it easy to judge our work, because they have a clear measurement benchmark at their disposal.
