A former ambassador of Italy to Egypt, Modiano was appointed in January by former ministers Louis DiMaio And Roberto Cingolaniprecisely to accompany the country on the path that would have led it to COP 27, but it has no political role like that, for example, of the envoy (since January 2021) for the USA, John Kerry, who is also a member of the Cabinet. “The Italian government was the great unjustified absentee” comments the co-spokesperson of Green Europe and deputy of Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, Angelo Bonelli. Criticisms of Italy’s marginal presence also come from Gianni Silvestriniscientific director of the Kyoto Club: “It doesn’t seem that our Government is interested in dealing with this emergency (apart from Meloni’s brief ‘diplomatic’ visit to Egypt)”.
The words of Minister Picetto Fratin
Yet it is precisely the Minister of the Environment appointed by Giorgia Meloni who points out that “after long and difficult negotiations, the most evident result of this COP is the creation of a bottom to support the most vulnerable countries to deal with the losses and damages resulting from the occurrence of extreme climatic events”, while “the results obtained on the crucial front of the mitigation actions, where an important opportunity to increase ambition in the field of mitigation policies has probably been missed”. And again: “If the international community will not be able to maintain its objectives on mitigation, moreover strongly supported by science, it will certainly not be the financial policies in support of the most vulnerable countries that will solve the challenge they face”. And while the minister announces that “we intend to start working intensely from tomorrow to more ambitious goalsto be obtained next year at the Cop28 in the United Arab Emirates” some wonder where he was while in Egypt they worked to achieve the objectives of this Cop.
The criticisms of the Kyoto Club and Green Europe
Several ministers worked there. For Germany, for example, the Kyoto Club points out, “in addition to the chancellor Olaf Scholz” in the final decisive phase also “the foreign minister Annalena Baerbock” reached the COP, followed for the entire duration “by the climate correspondent Jennifer Morgan (former president of Greenpeace International)”. But that’s not the only case: ministers from countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Belgium have been guiding the strategic negotiations, from the one on the Loss and damage fund to those on mitigation and adaptation. Finnish minister Maria Ohisalo worked to the end on the final text. Minister Pichetto Fratin went to Sharm el-Sheikh twice, during the first and second week, but never got into the negotiations. Bonelli, co-spokesman of Green Europe, met him in Egypt: “He confirmed his anti-historical belief that the energy transition in Italy will not take place before 20-25 years. Our executive is working to resume drilling, double gas pipelines and build new regasification terminals in the South”.
What did to Cop Pichetto, more favorable to the global shield than to Loss and damage
In fact, Giorgia Meloni’s arrival in Egypt took place a few days after the decision to concede new permits and say yes to new drills to increase gas extraction in the Adriatic, also a starting from 9 miles from the coast. Even at the COP, the premier wasted no time on the fuel-related partnerships front. And Pichetto has too done his part. Meanwhile, today he believes that the best result of COP 27 was the Loss and damage fund but, until a few days ago, he preferred the alternative (“Italy is leaning towards a reduced instrument”). At Conference of the Parties on climatespeaking to reporters, confirmed theopenness to nuclear powerwhile to the United States special envoy for the climate, John Kerry, he spoke yes of renewables, but also of regasifiers. And whoever asked him about the possibility of the EU announcing a 57% cut soon (instead of 55%) answered: “If the parameters are changed along the way, the ability of each individual country to achieve the targets”.