“Italy arrives at Venaria with clear ideas and the determination necessary to make this G7 the bearer of real and ambitious results” are the words with which the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin presented the program of the next Summit on Climate, Energy and Environment. Appointment in Venaria Reale, a few kilometers from Turin, on 29 and 30 April. Italy at the helm, the meeting aims to “give a strong push to the development of renewables and broaden our horizons to all sources which, with scientific support, can guarantee energy security, contributing to the achievement of environmental objectives”, as well as supporting adaptation policies, with “targeted and joint actions, oriented towards concreteness”.
For two days the Seven Countries of the Forum will discuss energy, circular economy, adaptation strategies and support for the most fragile regions. A document already seen by Pichetto Fratin brings the requests of the States General of the environment for young people
Alongside the country that holds the presidency this year, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the USA, France and Germany represent the Group of Seven which, together with the European Union with the Prime Minister Michel and the President of the European Commission von der Leyen, will sit around the table of an informal forum that draws together the negotiations of recent months. The United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan, the locations of last year’s Cop28 and next December’s Cop29, were also invited for the occasion; Brazil, in the presidency of the G20, and, again, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania, in the presidency of the African Union, together with Kenya, Algeria and the African Development Bank. In total, 34 delegations and 150 participants in the works will gather in the Piedmontese city.
The ladder
Topics: pollution, sustainable consumption and production, circular economy and efficient use of resources, as well as a focus on critical raw materials.
But also nature, with a vision of biodiversity and the well-being of land and sea ecosystems. The ministers will discuss measures aimed at eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, as envisaged by the Net-zero agenda. In fact, if the objective is to strengthen the renewables sector, work is needed on accumulation and flexibility systems, even if the supply of the necessary minerals remains critical. In this sense, during the presentation of the meeting Pichetto Fratin raised the topic of “new energy technologies, including sustainable nuclear power” on which research should be strengthened. Yet another key topic will be the administration of water resources, particularly in collaboration with countries such as Africa, with devices and techniques developed for the creation of new infrastructures and for monitoring. Attention goes to the most fragile countries, as already foreseen by the Mattei Plan.
The demands of young people
Turin, moreover, had already hosted on the occasion of Earth Day, last April 22, a meeting of the States General of the environment for young people who, at the Environment Park
, a technological park for environmental innovation, met to prepare a document of intent to be presented in the two-day intergovernmental meeting. Organized by Earth Day Italia, with the collaboration of the Piedmont Region and the City of Turin, the day produced a text, already submitted to Minister Pichetto Fratin, in which the editors under 30 ask for the dissemination of verified and reliable information on current problems that is accompanied by innovative and concrete solutions. Above all, they urge the adoption of policies consistent with sustainability objectives and with a real impact on people’s daily lives – such as lowering the costs of low-footprint products – and more in-depth education on consumption and production cycles.
The contour
In the Piedmontese capital, in the meantime, the week promoted by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security ends tomorrow, Planet Week began on April 20th, with exhibitions, projects, meetings and international conferences between Palazzo Madama and the Civic Museums which prepared the ground for the meeting. At the same time, activist movements are also mobilizing and the Extinction Rebellion group started the occupation of the hall of the Intesa San Paolo skyscraper in Turin a few minutes ago, after yesterday seven of them displayed a banner with the words : «-2 days until the circus starts». The Municipality has activated the anti-littering task force of the police and Amiat, the Turin company that deals with hygiene and waste collection and disposal.
The program of the Group of Seven
This appointment will be followed by the ministerial meeting on justice in Venice on 9 and 10 May and the one dedicated to finances in Stresa from 23 to 25 of the same month, in a path that will guide the Heads of State and Government at the Puglia Summit, in Borgo Egnazia from 13 to 15 June 2024.
