Hydrogen and nuclear fusion key to ecological transition says Cingolani

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 16 - Green hydrogen and nuclear fusion will be key points of the change his ministry aims to achieve, Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said in presenting the guidelines of the new ministry to the parliamentary committee for the environment and productive activities on Tuesday.
    "I hop that if we have worked well, in 10 years' time our successors will be talking about how to lower the price of green hydrogen and how to invest in nuclear fusion," he told the joint House and Senate panel.
    "That is the transition I have in mind.
    "The universe works with nuclear fusion, that is the renewable of renewables".
    Cingolani also said he planned to create a ministry that would be "digitised and internationalised".
    He said he was already drawing up a plan for the digitisation of the new ministry.
    The minister also said there should be public debate about all new public works so as to avert conflict.
    "The ministry will promote public consultation", he said.
    Cingolani also said red tape needed to be cut to employ over 200 billion euros of EU COVID recovery cash properly.
    "The Recovery and Resilience Plan requires shorter processes, with the Genoa bridge project being a model".
    The national energy plan must also be rejigged to suit the COVID recovery plan, he said.
    The ministry for the ecological transition was set up after a cal from the environmentally-conscious and populist 5-Star Movement (M5S), the biggest party in ex-European central banker Mario Draghi's national unity government.
    Cingolani, former innovation chief at aerospace giant Leonardo, is one of the eight non-political technocrats in Draghi's 23-strong cabinet.
    The ministry is tasked with engineering the transition towards making the Italian economy environmentally sustainable.
    Cingolani told United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry last week that Italy is set to invest 80 billion euros in decarbonization over the next five years.
    Cingolani said the investments would stem from the government's PNRR COVID-19 Recovery Plan financed with the help of close to 200 billion euros in EU grants and low-interest loans.
    Cingolani told Kerry, who has visited London, Brussels and Paris as part of a tour of Europe, that the investments would delivery cuts in emission levels of 55-60% by 2030. (ANSA).