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Italy combating climate selfishness

Italy combating climate selfishness

Premier says deal will be written in sand if not binding

Rome, 30 November 2015, 18:57

ANSA Editorial

ANSACheck

© ANSA/EPA

© ANSA/EPA
© ANSA/EPA

Italy is helping fight selfishness on climate change, Premier Matteo Renzi said at the United Nations conference on climate change, COP21, on Monday in Paris.
    Announcing that four billion euros to fight climate change would be in Italy's 2016 budget bill, the Italian premier called for a binding COP21 deal, saying that anything else would be "written in sand" and worthless.
    "There is a challenge that concerns all of us, the future of the planet," Renzi said.
    "Without useless alarmism we must realise we are at a crossroads. "Italy wants to be among the protagonists of the fight against selfishness, on the side of those who choose non-negotiable values like the defence of our mother Earth." Renzi said that Italy has been proactive and done more than it is sometimes given credit for on climate change. "We have to get away from the rhetoric that Italy doesn't do enough," the premier said as the international conference of 147 world leaders kicked off in Paris.
    "It has cut emissions by 23% since 1990, it has a $4-billion investment plan from now till 2020, our firms are on the front line, from ENI to ENEL. Italy has a lot to say and do in this sector," he said.
    Reaching an international accord, he said, however, won't be easy.
    "There were moments of heated debate over lunch," he said.
    "It won't be easy to reach an accord, but it is crucial that we do. Italy is doing its bit but the real problem is that not everyone is behaving in the same way on a global level." He said "we must make an effort to help others reach these results", pointing to the biggest polluters like the United States, China and India and saying that Europe only accounts for some 10% of emissions.
    "We need an investment that doesn't just come from Italy and Europe", said the Italian premier. Renzi added "the most binding accord possible (is needed), otherwise it risks being written in the sand". Addressing the plenary session of he conference, Renzi said that "now is the time to act" on climate change. He said "we are called to map out the future of the world".
    Renzi said Italy had put four billion euros on climate change "from here to 2020" in the 2016 budget bill.
    The Italian premier told the conference that "a political vision is needed" on climate change. He said "for us, as Italy, it is a priority to highlight the importance of small islands, small insular States and the Balkans we are working on. "The question is financial and economic, we are doing our bit, but above all it is political".
    Italy has the world's highest rate of solar power energy, Renzi told the conference. "I bring you the voice of a country (...) with the proper credentials, from the green economy to geothermal energy," Renzi said. "We are the first country in the world in terms of solar power use in the national energy mix - at 8%".
    Renzi repeated that lawmakers are being called on to design the future of the world. "There is no greater symbol than nature," he said. "(Ancient Roman statesman and philosopher) Seneca said all art is an imitation of nature. Politicians are being called on to create a masterpiece - to design the setting in which our children will live. Nature must be defended and we ourselves must defend it".
    The centre-left premier added his government is not worried about Italy's GDP in the wake of the November 13 Islamist terror attacks in Paris. "Italy's GDP will grow, not shrink," he said. "We have no fears on Italian GDP...however we are very concerned about the planet". Also on Monday, Renzi met with British Prime Minister David Cameron in a bilateral meeting on the fringes of the conference, focusing on the anti-terror fight.
    As COP21 opened, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said world leaders must find a way to contain the Earth's rising temperature to under two degrees, and that a binding climate accord is necessary to "guarantee peace and international security".
    "The world's future is in your hands," added Ban, calling on the leaders present to show vision and courage.
    "Let's change the future," said US President Barack Obama.
    The talks began with a moment of silence for victims of the November 13 terror attacks in Paris, and the tragedy served as a touchstone for world leaders urging unity and action.
    "What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it," President Obama said in his speech.
    French President Francois Hollande noted that "never have the stakes been so high because this is about the future of the planet, the future of life." "And yet two weeks ago, here in Paris itself, a group of fanatics was sowing the seeds of death in the streets," he said.
    Earlier Monday, it emerged that Italy is the European Union country worst-affected by air pollution-related deaths, according to a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). It estimated that there were 84,400 deaths of this type in Italy in 2012 out of total 491,000 for the whole EU. It said 59,500 premature deaths in Italy that year were attributable to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure, 3,300 to ozone (O3) and 21,600 to nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
   

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