Intervento del Ministro per la Transizione Ecologica, Roberto Cingolani, al Dibattito tematico di Alto livello su” Delivering climate action: for people, planet and prosperity” convocato dal Presidente della 76ma Sessione dell’Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite —
Excellencies, Dear colleagues,
At a time when youth and vulnerable have suffered the most for the consequences of a long and tragic pandemic, it is crucial to give them voice and support in the effort to tackle the existential threat of climate change, and to restore hope towards the building of a better future.
Climate change, clean energy transition and sustainable recovery are the strongest priorities of Italy’s agenda in every multilateral forum we are part of.
I want to thank our host, the President of the General Assembly, for convening us today.
We are pursuing these priorities through our Presidency of the G20, which – for the first time ever- held a joint Energy and Climate Ministerial meeting last July.
We are pursuing them in our role of partner of the Incoming UK Presidency of COP26 of the UNFCCC.
Less than a month ago in Milan – at the Youth for Climate and at the PreCOP- we put youth and vulnerable in the front seat of our path toward a greener and more just world. We did it together with the UN.
And I want to thank particularly Patricia Espinosa for her participation and her incredible support in that occasion. We involved almost 400 young boys and girls and, over the past months, more than 500 events as part of the All4Climate-Italy2021 program, aiming to support all those citizens, associations and companies engaged in addressing climate change through concrete and effective actions.
Together with our UK friends and 50 delegations at Milan’s PreCOP we addressed key issues such as adaptation, loss and damage, finance, transparency, ways to accelerate ambition and to keep 1,5°C alive.
I was impressed by the discussions that took place and by the genuine willingness to engage to find common grounds and solutions to these outstanding issues critical to achieve a successful outcome at COP26.
Science is clear: the IPCC report shows us that we can achieve it, but only if we are all working decisively in the same direction. Ambitious climate action at all levels (national, regional, international) can avoid the most devastating effects of climate change, but only if all nations act together.
Similarly, the recent NDC Synthesis report indicates that while there is a clear trend that greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced over time, nations must urgently double their climate efforts if they are to prevent global temperature increases beyond 1.5C by the end of the century.
It is now time to deliver on our commitments. We need to spare no effort if we want to live up to our responsibilities We have run out of time.
The world will be watching us, expecting each and every one of us to show leadership and ambition.
