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Introduzione al contesto internazionale ed europeo in materia di Agenda 2030 (Andrea Innamorati) — Transcript

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0:00Good morning. Good morning, everyone.
0:02Um, I have already been introduced. I
0:06work at the Directorate General for
0:08European and International Affairs and
0:11Sustainable Finance at the MASE, the
0:12Ministry of Environment and Energy
0:14Security, and I deal with sustainable
0:16development in the European and
0:18international context; therefore, I
0:20participate in various European and
0:22international negotiations on the topic
0:24of sustainable development and on the
0:26monitoring and reporting of the
0:28implementation of these commitments at
0:30the national level. Um, today I will
0:34try to to give a talk, let's say,
0:41focusing attention on this agreement
0:44that we reached in 2015, which contains
0:46the 2030 Agenda, therefore a series of
0:49commitments that we must undertake as
0:51member states from 2015 to 2030. Um,
0:58but I will do it by trying to
1:03contextualize this commitment in the
1:05international sphere and how we have
1:07arrived over the years at reaching this
1:10, let's say, this document. I'll wait a
1:15moment to share my screen. Okay, you
1:23should be able to see it, you should be
1:25able to see the presentation.
1:27Yes, I confirm.
1:28Perfect. So, what I will try to do—I
1:32know that webinars can be a bit long
1:34for participants—is to foster some
1:36interactivity, even if there are many
1:39of us, so it will not be possible to do
1:41so by filtering questions through the
1:43box that Roger spoke about earlier. I
1:47will try to divide the talk into two
1:49parts. So I will give a general premise
1:53on the concept of sustainable
1:55development, why we need to set
1:56criteria in our way of developing as a
1:59society, and then I will take a break;
2:01I will ask if there are any questions
2:03and then I will take you on a journey.
2:07I will try to be as quick and, um, and,
2:10let's say, as engaging as possible. I
2:15will take you on a journey, um, through
2:18the main international milestones that
2:20led us to conceive the concept of
2:21sustainable development as we conceive
2:23it today, and that will be the second
2:25part; and then the final part will
2:27focus on what we are doing now. I know
2:35that you are structured with a series
2:37of webinars that will then lead you to
2:39delve into national aspects as well,
2:41and so I have structured today's lesson
2:43to try to contextualize why we are
2:45committed at the national level to
2:47implementing sustainability in Italy
2:48and how this commitment is
2:50contextualized in the international
2:52arena. Okay. The 2030 Agenda is a
3:05document that was adopted in 2015, a
3:07very important year for international
3:10commitments on sustainable development
3:12and environmental protection, because
3:14in 2015 we also adopted the Paris
3:16Agreement, as well as an agreement on
3:19how to direct finance toward
3:21sustainability commitments. So it has
3:27been an almost unique year
3:28internationally, where member states
3:30coming from completely different
3:32backgrounds and contexts were able to
3:34set aside their differences and agree
3:36on some common paths to advance the
3:38concept of sustainable development in
3:40every nation. But why do we need to
3:46advance this concept of sustainability?
3:50Because the member states came, um,
3:58they gathered together under United
4:00Nations laws to try to find a
4:02compromise, because we realized that
4:04the impact our human activities were
4:06having, uh, were modifying some vital
4:08functions of our planet to such an
4:10extent that we couldn't even grasp the
4:19magnitude and intensity of that impact.
4:25As you can see from this slide, you can
4:27see some of our planet's vital
4:29functions, and how, especially starting
4:31from the Industrial Revolution, but
4:33mostly after the Second World War,
4:35those curves describing, for example,
4:37methane emissions or ocean
4:39acidification, have seen an exponential
4:41increase. This exponential increase is
4:47currently having a huge impact on the
4:49very vital functions of our planet.
4:59This impact is so broad that a group of
5:02scientists has begun to hypothesize
5:04that humanity is no longer in the
5:06geological era we are used to
5:08describing as the current one, the
5:10Holocene, a geological era that lasted
5:1311,700 years, described as an era of
5:15stability where all the planet's vital
5:17functions were stable, allowing
5:19humanity to reach this progress that
5:22lets us, for example, gather online
5:24with 800 people connected to a small
5:26computer. The scientific community is
5:40hypothesizing that humans are no longer
5:42in this geological era of stability,
5:45but are entering a new era they have
5:47named the Anthropocene, an era in which
5:49the natural variability of the planet's
5:51vital functions is compromised or, at
5:54least, is in competition with the
5:56impact of human activities.
6:03Anthropocene comes from "anthropos,"
6:05meaning human; it is an era dictated no
6:08longer by the natural variability of
6:10planet Earth's functions, but by the
6:12massive impact of human activities. And
6:16what is the problem for us? The problem
6:19, especially from a scientific point of
6:22view, is that with this human impact,
6:24this variability is no longer
6:25predictable. We can no longer
6:31understand, um, how the planet's vital
6:33functions will be able to guarantee the
6:35ecosystem services that humans need,
6:38from drinking water to clean air, to
6:40our climate variability. And so, the,
6:49let's say, the scientific community is
6:51urging policymakers at various levels
6:53to take action, to do more to try and
6:56tackle this problem. And what is this
7:02problem in itself? We saw it a week ago
7:07, just open the newspapers or listen to
7:09the news. These are images from the
7:15city of Los Angeles: a fire that
7:17devastated a city in one of the most
7:19industrialized countries in the world,
7:21which caused the evacuation of hundreds
7:24of thousands of people, and caused
7:25massive damage that has yet to be
7:27calculated. But we are talking about
7:34hundreds of billions of dollars in
7:36damage and events that are very
7:37difficult, not only to predict, but to
7:39manage. Um, these events are obviously
7:48caused or co-caused by this, um, this
7:50human impact on one of the planet's
7:53vital functions, namely, um, climate
7:55variability. Here we have images a bit
8:00closer to us. This is the event that
8:03devastated Valencia in October of last
8:05year. Again, an event caused by climate
8:13change, therefore by a, by an
8:15unpredictable climate variability,
8:17which struck a territory of an
8:19industrialized country and caused over
8:22200 victims, and again, billions of
8:24euros in damage. From this slide here,
8:36we can understand the challenge we are
8:38facing. If you see the small rectangle
8:42in the bottom right, that is the
8:44Holocene period, meaning that little
8:46rectangle in the bottom right
8:48represents 11,700 years. In that period
8:53, humanity was able to develop and
8:55progress to the level we know today.
8:59However, the history of planet Earth,
9:01and thus of life on the planet, spans
9:03millions upon millions of years, and
9:05these millions of years have allowed,
9:08for example, the atmosphere to reach
9:10the concentration levels of various
9:12substances that we know today. What
9:17scientists are telling us is that in
9:19this very short period of 250 years
9:21since the Industrial Revolution, our
9:23activities, and therefore our
9:25development—everything we do on the
9:27planet—is altering those vital
9:29functions that allowed for that balance
9:31during the Holocene. And this is
9:38precisely the reason why
9:43internationally, starting from the 70s,
9:46people began to discuss the
9:47relationship between humanity and
9:49nature, and in the mid-80s the term
9:51sustainable development was coined.
9:56What is sustainable development? We can
9:58see it here, up here, both on the left
10:00and on the right. You have, um, let's
10:04say, a, a citation of some United
10:06Nations resolutions; so it is a, it is
10:08a concept that was defined at an
10:10intergovernmental level and is a
10:12development paradigm that, first and
10:15foremost, aims to reach the primary
10:17goals of the population living on the
10:19planet. Primary needs are food security
10:26, the fight against poverty, primary
10:28education, uh, the reduction of
10:30premature deaths, and gender equality.
10:36But in achieving these primary needs
10:42the definition of sustainable
10:43development sets criteria; that is, we
10:46must not compromise the ability of
10:48future generations to meet those same
10:50goals. And if you think about it, this
10:57definition was, let’s say, coined
10:59between 1984 and 1987, so well before
11:02you were born. It was also speaking to
11:07you, in the sense that it said to the
11:13generations of the 80s, try to change
11:15your society’s paradigm so that the
11:17600 people connected to this webinar
11:19would not have their ability to reach
11:21their primary goals put at risk. And
11:28this concept of sustainable development
11:30was agreed upon internationally. We
11:32have a number of commitments made under
11:35the umbrella of the United Nations, and
11:37then at the European level, which we
11:39will see today, that stem from this
11:41very definition of sustainable
11:43development; there is also an economic
11:45definition of the concept of
11:46sustainable development, which you can
11:49see at the top right, that is, a
11:50development, a societal paradigm, that
11:53decouples economic growth from
11:54environmental degradation. And what
11:58does decoupling mean? It means that we
12:02can actually measure whether our
12:04society is sustainable or not. Using
12:08this very concept of decoupling. In
12:11this slide here, you can see a graph
12:13where you have a curve that measures,
12:15let’s say, the well-being of our
12:17economy, therefore the GDP. And then we
12:22have a curve that can describe, for
12:24example, waste production per capita or
12:27greenhouse gas emissions. which measure
12:30environmental degradation. A society
12:34achieves sustainable development when
12:37it performs this decoupling, that is,
12:39when the economic growth curve remains
12:41positive, but the environmental
12:43degradation curve is in the negative
12:45quadrant. In this case, if we reach
12:50this type of measurement, we have
12:52achieved sustainable development. We
12:58also have a relative decoupling, which
13:00you see in this graph, where the
13:02economic growth curve has a positive
13:04slope, while the environmental
13:06degradation curve—here too we can use
13:08the example of greenhouse gases or
13:10ozone emissions, and there are various
13:12indicators that allow us to measure
13:14this decoupling. In the case of
13:20relative decoupling, the curve
13:22measuring environmental degradation is
13:24still on a positive trajectory, but it
13:26is trending downward. Obviously, the
13:30goal of sustainable development is
13:32absolute decoupling. And when this
13:36concept of sustainable development was,
13:38let’s say, broken down, where did we
13:40start from here? Um, I would like to
13:47take you through a, let’s say, a
13:49quick journey of how we, at an
13:50international level, managed to coin
13:52the concept of sustainable development.
13:58I will touch on some of the main
14:00milestones, that is, the key events
14:02held under the United Nations, where
14:04governments at the highest level, that
14:06is, at the head-of-state level, have
14:08discussed the relationship between
14:10humans and the environment. So I will
14:14start from 1972, but perhaps to help a
14:17bit, let's say, with interactivity. I
14:21know it is a bit risky to do this at
14:23this time of the morning with so many
14:25people, and I would stop for just a
14:27second to see if there are any
14:29questions on this first part, on the
14:31concept of sustainability and on the
14:33impact we are having as humans on the
14:35planet's vital functions. So I will
14:39stop for a minute to see if anyone has
14:41questions and then I will begin this
14:43journey. I will try to do it as quickly
14:46as possible, but I will try to frame
14:48how this concept has evolved over the
14:50last 50 years. Why am I doing this?
14:54Because when you find yourselves
14:56working perhaps at a local level on a
14:58project to promote sustainability, you
15:00will have the international context for
15:02these efforts you are making. So I will
15:08stop for just a minute to see if there
15:10are any questions, and please ask them;
15:12I mean, don't be afraid of me, and feel
15:14free to be critical, always staying
15:16within the rules of discourse. Thank
15:20you. And I will act as a spokesperson
15:25for the questions from the participants
15:27, whom I continue to encourage to ask.
15:32There is a request for clarification
15:34regarding this decoupling graph. There
15:38is Domenico, who is not very clear on
15:41whether......if you could briefly
15:47explain it again, quoting from the
15:49comment. Uh, this is one intervention,
15:56a first question, then...I am checking,
16:03but I see that a lot of questions
16:05regarding attendance and so on keep
16:07coming in. Should I add another one, or
16:13do you prefer to answer one at a time?
16:16No, all together is fine, so it won't
16:18...
16:19Perfect. So, we also have a question
16:22from Sabatino, who asks what the
16:24relationship is between sustainable
16:26development and the circular economy.
16:31Leonardo, on the other hand, asks if
16:33European policies—excuse me, these
16:36are moving—okay? if European policies
16:43, and therefore Italian ones, are based
16:45on decoupling economic growth from
16:47environmental impact; he, Leonardo,
16:49points out that there are studies
16:51showing that absolute decoupling is not
16:54possible. That is, according to him,
17:02the point is that we need to change the
17:04economic indicator. Sorry, I am having
17:09a bit of trouble reading because it
17:11keeps scrolling. He also gives us a
17:14link to .org. And then Simone asks what
17:21the main indicators are that measure
17:23this decoupling. Lorenzo, on the other
17:28hand, tells us that the concept of
17:30sustainable development is not clear to
17:33him; specifically, Italy's carbon
17:35footprint is far too high. In what
17:38sense do we still need to develop? Is
17:40an economic crisis decoupled from the
17:41environmental framework not just a pipe
17:43dream? Without falling into the fallacy
17:46of returning to the Stone Age, is it
17:47truly still possible for us to develop
17:50sustainably? And, well, that's it.
17:53These are, more or less, the comments.
17:57Excellent, excellent. Thank you, thank
17:59you Roger, and thanks above all to the
18:01participants who are here with their
18:03numerous and even critical questions. I
18:06will try to connect them together,
18:08because otherwise I won't be able to
18:10answer everyone. Certainly, GDP is an
18:14indicator that is still used
18:16internationally today to measure the
18:18well-being of an economy, but there are
18:20numerous lines of research that try to
18:23illustrate that GDP itself is a
18:24container that holds a bit of
18:26everything. Let me give an example of
18:30the disaster in Valencia. Probably in
18:37the period following the Valencia
18:39disaster, the GDP of that region in
18:41Spain or of the Spanish nation will
18:43likely grow more because there will be
18:46a series of investments and funds used
18:48to try to remedy and repair that
18:50disaster. So, the comment on GDP is
18:59certainly a comment that is valid. And
19:03what is decoupling? There was a
19:04question about decoupling: it is
19:06precisely trying to have two curves,
19:08one positive and one negative.
19:10Therefore, one curve that measures
19:12economic well-being, whether it is GDP
19:15or another positive indicator, and a
19:17curve that describes, for example,
19:19environmental degradation, which could
19:22be per capita waste production,
19:23greenhouse gas emissions, ozone
19:25emissions, land use, or biodiversity
19:28loss; there are various indicators that
19:30measure environmental degradation. All
19:35with a negative gradient, therefore
19:37with a negative curve. When that type
19:40of decoupling is reached, we have what
19:42we call absolute decoupling, which
19:44describes a sustainable approach for
19:46that type of society. At the European
19:48level, for example, Sweden has had
19:50positive economic growth since 1992 and
19:53has had negative greenhouse gas
19:55emissions. So, in that context, Sweden
19:59as a country is achieving, let's say, a
20:01decoupling between economic growth and
20:04greenhouse gas emissions. The
20:08relationship between sustainable
20:09development and the circular economy.
20:11The circular economy is part of
20:13sustainable development; if we want to
20:15adopt a sustainability approach,
20:17meaning meeting the primary needs of
20:19present generations, we must obviously
20:22embrace the circular economy approach,
20:24which means trying to be much more
20:26efficient as a society in our use of
20:28materials and resources. Therefore,
20:32starting from the design of products
20:34and services, we must keep resources
20:36within our economy and try to avoid, as
20:38much as possible, discarding things and
20:41creating excessive waste. So, the
20:44circular economy is a tool for
20:46achieving sustainable development.
20:48Regarding policies, Italian policies.
20:51We will see something today, if we
20:53manage to reach the end of the
20:54presentation. I will give you some
20:56examples of how we are moving at the
20:58European level, and then in the
21:00following presentations—you will also
21:02have webinars on the National
21:04Sustainable Development Strategy—my
21:06colleagues will be able to answer in a
21:08bit more detail how Italy is trying to
21:10pursue decoupling. Obviously, the goals
21:13of the 2030 Agenda are defined as "
21:16aspirational goals," so they are
21:18objectives meant to provide direction.
21:22Some of these goals are very difficult
21:24to pursue, but they set a direction.
21:26Now, I am obviously exposing myself to
21:28criticism, especially from you, who are
21:30the generation that has inherited,
21:32let's say, all the environmental
21:34criticalities that my generation, my
21:36father's, and my grandfather's
21:37generations have produced. However, the
21:432030 Agenda should provide that
21:45direction to Member States so they can
21:47develop, considering national and local
21:49contexts, a plan to try to limit the
21:51impact of our economies on the
21:53environment. Absolute decoupling is
21:59possible; we just need to see which
22:01indicators we use. So, in the second
22:07part of the presentation, I will also
22:09try to give you examples of indicators,
22:11but you will surely address this in
22:13more detail during the presentation by
22:15my colleagues who are handling the
22:17strategy, as there will also be a
22:19section dedicated to how we measure
22:20progress toward achieving these goals.
22:27So, let me try to move forward. And
22:29again, I ask you to, well, to keep in
22:35mind questions regarding critical
22:37aspects as well, because I think
22:39discussion is very important,
22:40especially with you, who represent the
22:43generation that should, um, commit even
22:45more to try to manage, uh, this
22:47challenge that we are facing. I
22:52promised you that in this central part,
22:54I would take you on a journey. Why am I
22:57doing this? Not to bore you—I hope it
23:01won't be boring—but to try to
23:03contextualize the concept of
23:05sustainability internationally and how
23:07this concept has evolved over the last
23:0950 years, also by looking, for example,
23:12at the geopolitical situation during
23:14the various periods when this concept
23:16gained more or less momentum. Um, it
23:23starts in 1972, because in 1972 the
23:25first conference under the auspices of
23:27the United Nations took place, which
23:30dealt with discussing the relationship
23:32between human activities and the
23:34surrounding environment. Um, why is
23:40this event so important? Because for
23:45the first time under the auspices of
23:47the United Nations, governments
23:48themselves decided through a General
23:50Assembly resolution to discuss this
23:52problem. Until 1972, this issue was not
23:57on the governmental agenda, so why did
24:00it become a priority? First of all, if
24:04we look at the geopolitical situation
24:06of the 70s, during that decade the
24:08great colonial empires began to
24:10disintegrate. So many member states
24:14were new members; many UN member states
24:16had just gained independence, and
24:18independence meant finally having
24:20access to their own resources. At the
24:27same time, in the industrialized part
24:30of the world, let's say the part
24:31closest to us—since we are a global
24:34minority, representing one-eighth of
24:36the global population living in these
24:38conditions—we realized that our
24:40societal model, our model of industrial
24:42development, was having a significant
24:44impact on some of the planet's vital
24:46functions. And the conference was held
24:55in Stockholm precisely because one of
24:57the countries that had measured a
24:59significant impact of pollution on some
25:01of the vital functions within their
25:03nation was Sweden, as Sweden was
25:05suffering from, quote unquote,
25:07transboundary pollution from
25:08neighboring countries like the former
25:10Soviet Union, especially in terms of
25:12acid rain, of heavy metals present in
25:21environments where that pollution did
25:23not originate. The large lakes in both
25:27Sweden and Finland had high levels, for
25:30example, of mercury, but there was no
25:32mercury production near those lakes,
25:34and that mercury was transported by
25:36precipitation—by weather events from
25:38neighboring countries—and therefore,
25:40countries like Sweden, Finland, and
25:43Norway invested heavily in trying to
25:45bring this dialogue to the
25:46international stage. At the Stockholm
25:54conference, they began to discuss this
25:56relationship between man and nature,
25:58and there were some results that I will
26:00go over very quickly, simply to frame
26:02what we are doing today in the field of
26:04environmental protection and
26:06sustainable development. One of the
26:10main results is the declaration of
26:12principles, that is, a document agreed
26:15upon at the interministerial level and
26:17then adopted by the General Assembly,
26:19in which some of the principles are
26:21outlined regarding how member states
26:23should act from 1972 onwards. One of
26:28the principles I want to highlight, I
26:30will highlight one, is Principle 21,
26:32which is a principle where, in the
26:35first part of this principle, um, it is
26:42reaffirmed that every member state has
26:44the right to develop and. This
26:48principle is the result of a
26:50negotiation where, in the first part of
26:52the principle, we have the view
26:54especially of developing countries that
26:56had just freed themselves from
26:58colonialism and therefore had the right
27:00to be able to exploit their own
27:02resources without anyone imposing
27:04criteria or any, let's say, guidance on
27:06how to develop those resources. And
27:12then in the second part of the same
27:14principle, however, there is a small
27:16caveat, meaning member states have
27:18every right to exploit the resources in
27:20their territory, but that right is
27:22followed by a responsibility, meaning
27:24that exploitation must not have an
27:26impact on neighboring nations. And this
27:32is one of the first, let's say,
27:34international environmental protection
27:36principles from which then derived,
27:38let's say, all the work that for
27:40example we as the Ministry of the
27:42Environment do in the implementation of
27:44various multilateral environmental
27:46agreements, Principle 21. The second
27:51result of the 1972 Stockholm Conference
27:54is the birth of a, of a, of a body, of
27:56a supranational entity under the
27:58auspices of the United Nations that
28:00would deal primarily with the
28:02environment. Until 1972, there was no
28:07entity that could have, let's say, the
28:09authority, for example, to measure the
28:11state of the environment at a global
28:13level and then convey these results at
28:16an intergovernmental level. So, in 1972
28:18, the United Nations Environment
28:21Programme was born. This program is
28:27also the fruit of a long negotiation,
28:29of a tug-of-war between more developed
28:31states and developing states, which,
28:34however, then, well, we managed to
28:36achieve this result and the program,
28:38for example, um is um hosted in a
28:40developing country. This is a, let's
28:47say, it is a it is a concession that
28:51was made precisely to bring developing
28:53countries onto, let's say, a path of
28:55greater sustainability. In fact, UNEP,
28:58the executive offices of UNEP are in
29:00Nairobi, they are in Kenya. And here in
29:05front, I don't want to dwell too long,
29:07but you see the functions of this
29:09United Nations Environment Programme,
29:11which are still the functions of UNEP
29:13today, and they have main functions of
29:15monitoring the state of the environment
29:17; therefore they have an authoritative
29:19voice on the state of the environment
29:21in the international sphere and then it
29:23has a series of functions related to
29:25supporting the sustainable development
29:27of developing countries. so it can
29:32support developing countries, uh, in
29:34terms of environmental cooperation. It
29:37can facilitate and encourage
29:39international cooperation regarding
29:40environmental protection, and then
29:42within the United Nations framework
29:44itself, when discussions take place,
29:46they represent the voice of the
29:48environment. A small detail, which is
29:52not that small, just to make you
29:54understand how difficult international
29:56negotiation is on these issues, is that
29:59the establishment of UNEP has, um, in
30:05the negotiation, UNEP was given
30:07functions that go well beyond the
30:11condition of being a program, because
30:13UNEP is a United Nations program, it is
30:15not an organization. Now, in a nutshell
30:17, I will explain the difference to you.
30:21An organization like the FAO, for
30:23example, which is hosted in Rome, um,
30:26so the status of a United Nations
30:28organization means that every member
30:30state that is a member of that
30:32organization, um, by law must
30:38contribute financially to that
30:40organization. So, Italy, in its annual
30:42budget law, always has an expenditure
30:45chapter dedicated to the contribution
30:47to the FAO. Okay? A United Nations
30:52program, on the other hand, is
30:54supported financially on a voluntary
30:56basis. So, in the case of this
30:59negotiation, we established UNEP in
31:021972, we gave it very important
31:04functions at the international level,
31:06but we did not give it the status of an
31:08organization; so, it's as if you give
31:11someone a series of tasks to do, but
31:13then you don't support them financially
31:15to do them. And this difference between
31:19program and organization is very
31:21current. If you think about President
31:26Trump's intervention at the United
31:28Nations, in his inaugural speech, when
31:30he announced the fact that the United
31:32States would withdraw, would pull out
31:34from the World Health Organization,
31:36that means that, in pulling out of the
31:38World Health Organization, they would
31:40no longer grant those contributions
31:42which are not voluntary, but are
31:44mandatory, and therefore that gesture
31:46somewhat cuts the legs out from under
31:48the World Health Organization. I will
31:54jump ahead, I will stop at the end of
31:56this overview which will last a quarter
31:58of an hour, hopefully no longer, I will
32:00stop obviously for questions. Another
32:06important moment in the international
32:09sphere, so from 1972 (I'll jump 10-15
32:11years), is this period between '83 and
32:14'87, in which the UN Secretary-General
32:16mandates the Norwegian Prime Minister,
32:19a lady, Gro Harlem Brundtland, to chair
32:22a working group that had to draft—it
32:24took them 4 years to draft this
32:26document—a vision document: how do we
32:29want to see our societies in the next
32:31twenty years. So, we had reached the
32:40presentation of this report, "Our
32:42Common Future," which I invite you (and
32:45perhaps I can also share the link to
32:47the documentation) to read; perhaps not
32:49the whole thing, but there is a
32:51preamble section that is very
32:52interesting, in which this group of
32:54scientists, academics, and politicians,
32:57led by the Norwegian Prime Minister Gro
32:59Harlem Brundtland, invites the
33:01international community to adopt a
33:03different type of development model
33:05focused on sustainability. This
33:14document launches us, brings us forward
33:16a few years, and brings us...the
33:18results of this document are the
33:20subject of the discussion of this new
33:28United Nations conference, 20 years
33:30after the Stockholm conference, which
33:33is held this time not in an
33:34industrialized country, but in a
33:36developing country. In Rio de Janeiro
33:41in 1992. And it's not just any
33:44developing country, it is Brazil.
33:49Brazil is a fundamental country for
33:51issues of environmental protection,
33:52because it is the country that has
33:54jurisdiction over one of the most
33:56important lungs of planet Earth. And so
34:00, having a country, that hosts an
34:06international conference at the level
34:08of heads of state and government who
34:10want to discuss the relationship
34:12between environment and nature is a
34:13moment, an extremely important step. In
34:18the international sphere. And why does
34:20this happen in 1992? 1992 is a moment
34:24—I am building a bridge between
34:27environmental issues and geopolitical
34:29aspects. In 1992, the period of the
34:32Cold War comes to an end, the period of
34:35opposition between two sides comes to
34:37an end, or at least this period
34:39temporarily closes, and so it is a
34:41moment of enormous collaboration. An
34:46enormous collaboration that was
34:48explicitly requested in the "Our Common
34:50Future" document, in the
34:51recommendations of that document from
34:53the previous slide, in which, among the
34:56requests, there was precisely that of
34:58starting to initiate international
35:00cooperation on environmental protection
35:02: an international cooperation capable
35:04of trying to promote the concept of
35:06sustainable development globally, which
35:08is not possible if there are
35:10oppositions between countries. It is
35:14not possible to try to solve the
35:16problem of climate change if one
35:18country does not talk to another, and
35:20therefore this moment in 1992 is
35:22extremely important. What happens in
35:25'92? There is a new United Nations
35:27conference, the Rio conference. It is a
35:29conference that also has an
35:31intergovernmental mandate. Here you
35:33have the reference to the General
35:35Assembly resolution. I include the
35:37reference because it is always
35:39important to have the context of the
35:41situation we are in. In '92, this
35:44conference was desired by governments
35:47and had a series of enormous results.
35:50They are listed here for you, so I will
35:52try to talk about some of these results
35:54. together with you. The first is a
35:56declaration. At the end of this
35:58conference, the ministers and heads of
36:00state present adopt the Rio Declaration
36:02. This was also a declaration that
36:05contains a series of principles, and I
36:07will focus on one of these principles,
36:10which is Principle 10. Why am I
36:13focusing on this principle? Because
36:21perhaps, during your civil service path
36:23, you might come across some measures
36:25that local authorities are adopting
36:27precisely to comply with this principle
36:29, which was then ratified at the
36:31national level: first regionally with
36:33the Aarhus Convention, then nationally
36:35with our legislation that seeks to
36:37promote the right of every citizen, in
36:39this case Italian, to have access to
36:41environmental information, to have
36:43access to participate in
36:45decision-making processes, and to have
36:47access to justice. What does access to
36:55environmental information mean? It
36:59means that, for example, if you take
37:01out your phone—don't do it now, you
37:03can do it later—you can easily go, in
37:05my case, to the Municipality of Rome
37:08and search for updated data, for
37:09example, on air quality; and this
37:11information must be provided by law by
37:14the local authority. That is, you have
37:20the right by law to know the state, for
37:22example, of air quality, you have the
37:24right to know per capita waste
37:26production, you have the right to know
37:28how this waste is treated. All these
37:33rights you have, which are part of our
37:35legislation, come from these
37:36international agreements, from these
37:38multilateral agreements, and Principle
37:4010 gives us this right. It is a
37:43fundamental right, if you think about
37:45it, because the common good, such as
37:47fresh air or drinking water, is a
37:49common good that should be our right.
37:53For now, we have the right to know if
37:55that common good is in good condition,
37:57what the quality of that good is. When
38:02my colleagues talk to you about the
38:04National Sustainable Development
38:06Strategy, Principle 10 is part of that
38:09too; because, in drafting the National
38:11Sustainable Development Strategy, we as
38:13a Ministry, by law, had to go through
38:15steps of consultation with civil
38:17society, so we had to share a document
38:19drafted in the Ministry's offices, in
38:22collaboration with other
38:23administrations, with civil society.
38:27It's not that we wanted to do this
38:29voluntarily; it is written into law,
38:31and this too derives from this
38:32principle here. Principle 7, so this is
38:39the second and last one I will talk
38:41about in this webinar. It is another
38:45principle that was adopted during the
38:47'92 Rio Conference, and it is a
38:49principle that puts in black and white
38:51the common but differentiated
38:53responsibilities of countries regarding
38:55environmental protection issues. What
38:58does this principle 7 of common but
39:00differentiated responsibilities mean?
39:04It means that thanks to this principle,
39:06everyone feels comfortable sitting
39:08around the negotiating table, both
39:10industrialized and developing countries
39:12. I'll give a very simple example, but
39:18at least to try to bring this principle
39:20into reality in a more tangible way.
39:26When the United States sits at the
39:28table with Niger and talks about
39:30commitments to reduce greenhouse gas
39:32emissions, Niger sits at the table. It
39:36sits at the table because it knows that
39:38it can, let's say, use this principle
39:40to defend some of its rights. And what
39:42does the principle say? It says that
39:50responsibilities are common, in the
39:52sense that our climate, in this case,
39:55is impacted by greenhouse gas emissions
39:57, and the common responsibility is that
39:59all countries, regardless of their
40:01level of development, must act to try
40:03to limit our impact on the climate
40:05system. But responsibilities are
40:13differentiated, in the sense that the
40:15United States has emitted 300%more
40:20greenhouse gas emissions than Niger.
40:27Therefore, in seeking solutions toward
40:30achieving, for example, climate
40:31neutrality, developing countries have
40:34the right, based on this principle, to
40:36a preferential channel; that is, they
40:38have the right to receive funds to try
40:40to reduce their greenhouse gas
40:42emissions, funds that we must provide
40:44to them. This is a principle that
40:50always emerges in international
40:52negotiations. Every time 196 UN member
40:56countries sit at the table, this
40:58principle is immediately put forward as
41:00, let's say, a preamble to make
41:02everyone comfortable around the table.
41:09What was adopted in 1992 in Rio? One of
41:12the most important documents on
41:14sustainable development, which is
41:16called Agenda 21. Agenda 21 is the
41:19agenda for the 21st century that the
41:21member states that participated in Rio
41:23adopted to try to provide guidance
41:26regarding development policies,
41:28economic policies, and social policies.
41:31And why is it so important? Because for
41:36the first time in an international
41:38context at a governmental level, the
41:40fact was recognized that the
41:42environment as a theme, and therefore
41:44everything regarding the environment
41:46and environmental protection, must be
41:48considered at the same level of
41:49importance as economic and social
41:51policies. and it is truly the heart of
42:01the sustainable development concept,
42:03and it is explicitly stated in this
42:05policy document called Agenda 21, as
42:08well as how to achieve this level of
42:10parity between environment, economy,
42:12and society through national
42:14sustainable development strategies. a
42:18topic that will be covered in the next
42:20webinar by my colleagues, but the
42:22national strategies, the first national
42:25sustainable development strategies even
42:27at the European level, were born after
42:29the adoption of Agenda 21, so this
42:31document here arrived with the
42:38organizers. It also identifies the
42:42various steps that member states should
42:44, let's say, adopt to reach the
42:46definition of a sustainable development
42:49document, a strategy. And the steps are
42:55those we are following ourselves at the
42:57ministerial level as well: meaning a
42:59document that must not be defined
43:01within closed doors, but must be shared
43:03with civil society networks, with the
43:06private sector; therefore, it must be a
43:08document, let's say, that has that is
43:15the result of a participatory process.
43:17Agenda 21 not only defines and directs
43:32the commitment that member states
43:34should undertake to reach sustainable
43:36development, it also modifies some
43:38international assets; in particular, in
43:41the Agenda 21 document, therefore
43:43arriving in '92, a commission for
43:45sustainable development was established
43:47within the UN. Um this commission was
44:00established within a dedicated United
44:02Nations agency called UNDESA, and it
44:04had the task—the Commission on
44:06Sustainable Development no longer
44:08exists—of monitoring the
44:10implementation status of the
44:12commitments made with Agenda 21. So,
44:18every year, the member states that are
44:20part of the United Nations met after
44:22the '92 conference to verify and
44:24monitor the implementation status of
44:27Agenda 21. In establishing a dedicated
44:34agency for the theme of sustainability
44:36within the United Nations, UNDESA,
44:38there was also an attempt to strengthen
44:41the United Nations Environment
44:43Programme, because in 1992, the Rio
44:45Conference, after its launch in '72,
44:48had lost, let's say, some importance,
44:50and now I will explain to you how that
44:53came about. Other results, and I will
45:04dwell only a few minutes on the other
45:07results, are the launch of the three
45:09main international conventions for
45:11environmental protection, and the most
45:13important, or perhaps the best known,
45:15is the framework convention on the
45:17fight against climate change, the
45:19UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework
45:21Convention on Climate Change. And why
45:26was it launched in 1992 in Rio? It was
45:32launched thanks to the work done since
45:34the establishment of the United Nations
45:37Environment Programme in 1972 up to
45:391992; that is, UNEP, launched in '72,
45:42immediately began working with the
45:44world organization that monitors the
45:46climate, the World Meteorological
45:49Organization. Thanks to this twenty
45:55years of research work on, let's say,
45:57climate variability and a series of
45:59negotiating meetings with member states
46:02, it led to the launch of a convention,
46:04therefore a, let's say, a multilateral
46:06agreement to try to bring member states
46:08together under one single umbrella, to
46:10try to tackle the problem of climate
46:13change. In the same way, the other two
46:17conventions were also launched: the one
46:20on combating desertification and the
46:22one on the protection of biodiversity.
46:24All of this took place in Rio in 1992.
46:36Between '92 and 2002 there was another
46:43quite important event in the
46:44international sphere which is connected
46:46to the 2030 Agenda, which we will talk
46:48about in the third part of today's
46:50lesson, and that is this Millennium
46:52Summit. If you look at the photo, you
46:55will recognize some political leaders
46:57who are still relevant today, one in
46:59particular in the foreground. The
47:05Millennium Summit is a very important
47:07international meeting that was convened
47:09by the then Secretary-General of the
47:11United Nations, Kofi Annan, to provide
47:13international direction for development
47:15cooperation. You might ask me: what
47:20does development cooperation have to do
47:22with sustainable development? We will
47:29get to that now, in the sense that in
47:312000 a document was launched called the
47:33Millennium Development Goals, which was
47:35developed by a group of scientists
47:37commissioned by the UN
47:38Secretary-General, and which
47:40highlighted and brought to the
47:41forefront the primary needs of
47:43developing countries that had not yet
47:45been met. As you can see, there are
47:55eight Millennium Development Goals, and
47:58they are mainly addressed to developing
48:00countries, therefore to the vast
48:02majority of the world's population, and
48:04they range from the fight against
48:06extreme poverty and hunger to access to
48:08universal primary education, to the
48:15improvement of the health of pregnant
48:17women. These are all goals that were
48:22defined within the United Nations and
48:24are primarily aimed at developing
48:25countries. These Millennium Development
48:31Goals had a mandate; they were adopted
48:33in 2000 and had a 15-year mandate. So,
48:40from 2000 to 2015, these goals directed
48:42the spending of member states, the
48:44funding of member states for
48:46development cooperation projects, and
48:48the funding of major international
48:50funds for development cooperation
48:52projects. All of these were directed,
48:59all of these projects were aimed at
49:01achieving these eight Millennium
49:03Development Goals. At the same time,
49:09and here I make a comparison, member
49:12states were, are, and still remain
49:14today part of a number of multilateral
49:20environmental agreements. In other
49:25words: on one hand, with the Millennium
49:28Goals, the United Nations was setting
49:30the direction for how to promote social
49:32and economic progress, and on the other
49:34, with a series of multilateral
49:36environmental agreements, such as those
49:38you see in the list (which is not
49:40exhaustive) on your screen. And as an
49:48international community, since 1992, we
49:51have begun to regulate those impacts we
49:53have on the environment. So here you
49:58have a series of protocols, both
49:59international and regional. I will take
50:03the example of the Montreal Protocol,
50:05which is a protocol that was adopted to
50:07try to limit the the emissions of, um,
50:17ozone-depleting pollutants, and it is a
50:19multilateral environmental agreement
50:21that was adopted around 1996 and
50:23regulates, at an international level,
50:26the emission of these, let's say,
50:28pollutants that can alter the ozone,
50:30which is a primary function for planet
50:32Earth. And this is an example of a
50:38multilateral environmental agreement.
50:41The problem with these multilateral
50:43environmental agreements, of which
50:45there are many—over 500—is that
50:47they act at various levels (
50:49international and regional), and
50:51therefore there is a problem of
50:52coherence and governance. There is a
50:58problem in the fact that the
51:00environment, which functions, let's say
51:02, in an integrated way, in this case
51:04works in a fragmented manner through
51:06these agreements; and there is a
51:08problem of duplication and
51:09interrelations between agreements, if
51:11we can also add that on one hand, at an
51:13international level, we are regulating
51:15activities meant to help us progress
51:17socially and economically, while on the
51:20other, we are regulating our
51:21environment. There is a problem of
51:27fragmentation, and this problem of
51:29fragmentation will be rectified only
51:31with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda,
51:33which I will talk to you about now.
51:40Before reaching the adoption of the
51:422030 Agenda, there is an additional
51:44meeting within the United Nations
51:46framework, hence another international
51:48summit. After Rio in 1992, the heads of
51:55state and government met again in a
51:57developing country, and not just any
51:59country, but South Africa, a country
52:02that, between the 90s and the 2000s,
52:04had just emerged from apartheid. So,
52:11here too, we connect the aspect of
52:13sustainable development and the
52:15geopolitical aspect. The President of
52:20South Africa, Nelson Mandela, a man who
52:23spent over 20 years in prison just for
52:25the color of his skin, is, let's say,
52:27the host; that is, he hosts the heads
52:29of state and government at this
52:31international conference which has a
52:33mandate from the General Assembly,
52:35therefore an intergovernmental
52:37conference that has a title. If you
52:42look at the title, for the first time
52:44since the Stockholm conference, it
52:46bears the title "sustainable
52:48development"—the World Summit on
52:50Sustainable Development. And this is a
52:54significant change compared to 1992 and
52:571972. it is an acceptance of the fact
53:01that this paradigm works for everyone,
53:03both for industrialized countries and
53:05for developing countries. All countries
53:12must develop sustainably, in accordance
53:14with the decision that established this
53:16conference. And what happened in 2002?
53:23they are mostly political results. It
53:27is still a favorable moment at a
53:29geopolitical level because there are,
53:31um, let's say, um, there is strong
53:37economic growth in various countries
53:39that is also permeating developing
53:41countries, and therefore the
53:42Johannesburg summit in 2002 served
53:44mainly to strengthen the commitments of
53:46member states towards achieving
53:48sustainable development. Furthermore,
53:53in 2002, they also involved, let's say,
54:00the private sector with the launch of
54:02public-private partnerships to achieve
54:04the goals of Agenda 21. So, governments
54:09opened themselves up to collaboration
54:11with the private sector. I will jump
54:16ahead because I don't want to spend all
54:18the time on this overview, but it is
54:20quite important, in my opinion,
54:22especially for the upcoming webinars.
54:28it is the Rio conference in 2012, where
54:31the Brazilian government, 20 years
54:33after the '92 conference, wanted to
54:35host heads of state and government in
54:37Rio again to reaffirm the importance of
54:40sustainable development. This
54:47conference, from a political point of
54:50view, also had very significant
54:52relevance. In 2012, the geopolitical
54:56context was slightly different compared
54:59to 2002, because the world had gone
55:02through the economic crisis of
55:042007-2008, which had, well, a "
55:06trickling effect," as they say in
55:08English, on various member states. The
55:15Rio conference, which had a mandate
55:16established at the General Assembly
55:18level, had as its main result the
55:20launching of processes. it was highly
55:30criticized, especially by civil society
55:32, as a conference whose results were
55:34empty; but in itself, and as we later
55:37saw with the adoption of the 2030
55:39Agenda 3 years later, the conference
55:41had the ability to launch processes, in
55:43particular a convergence process. Um,
55:56both at a political and technical level
55:59, there was an awareness that
56:00separating, even in terms of processes,
56:03environmental protection from
56:04initiatives aimed at promoting, say,
56:06social development rather than economic
56:09development, was not leading to the
56:11desired progress. And so the attempt
56:19that was made, first with the launch of
56:21these processes at the Rio + 20
56:22conference and then with the adoption
56:25of the 2030 Agenda, is an attempt to
56:27make the different processes converge
56:29into a single document. And how was
56:33this convergence achieved? It was
56:39achieved through the definition, or
56:40rather the request contained in the
56:42final document of the Rio + 20
56:44conference, to define clear and
56:46communicable sustainable development
56:48goals that would include both the
56:50economic and social dimensions as well
56:52as the environmental one in a single
56:54line of work. In 2013, immediately
57:05after the end of the Rio + 20
57:07conference, a very important
57:09international meeting was held, again
57:11at the level of heads of government and
57:13with a resolution of the United Nations
57:16General Assembly, in which it was
57:18decided that the future of the
57:20Millennium Development Goals—those
57:22goals I showed you earlier, those eight
57:24goals that guided development
57:26cooperation from 2000 to 2015—and the
57:28future of sustainable development had
57:31to go hand in hand, had to converge
57:33into a single, let's say, line of work.
57:39And this might seem trivial, but in
57:41practical terms, what does it mean? It
57:44means that, from 2013-2015 onwards, one
57:47can no longer talk just about
57:49development. Every time we talk about
57:52development, we must talk about
57:54sustainable development, so we must
57:56provide a criterion for that type of
57:58development. And this convergence, how
58:02...what did it result in? It resulted
58:07in the 2030 Agenda. A document that
58:11contains goals of an, let's say,
58:13economic and social nature, together
58:15with goals to protect the environment.
58:22So, in a single strategic document
58:24adopted internationally, different
58:26lines of work were condensed. Um, let
58:32me give you a practical example with
58:34the Millennium Development Goals.
58:37Excuse me, if I...with these goals here
58:48, I'll show it to you, I'll make you
58:50visualize it: if the World Bank had to,
58:53let's say, promote the eradication of
58:55extreme poverty in a sub-Saharan
58:57African country, it could, between 2000
59:00and 2015, finance a project, let's say,
59:02for energy production in a rural area
59:05of Niger. And how do we want to produce
59:10the energy? In this case, the goal of
59:13the World Bank project had to be to
59:18allow these rural areas to access
59:20energy, and so one could build, for
59:22example, a dam to produce hydroelectric
59:24energy without taking into account
59:26environmental protection parameters. So
59:32that dam would have brought energy, it
59:34would have allowed, let's say, that
59:36rural area of Niger to be able to
59:38develop its economy, and thus to be
59:40able to develop jobs, and therefore to
59:42be able to contribute to the fight
59:44against extreme poverty and food
59:46security. However, the environmental
59:51impact of that project was not taken
59:53into account with the Millennium
59:55Development Goals. With the adoption of
1:00:03the 2030 Agenda, this, let's say,
1:00:05discrepancy between development
1:00:07policies and sustainable development
1:00:10policies was resolved with the adoption
1:00:12of 17 goals and 169 targets, measured
1:00:15by over 300 indicators. These provide
1:00:19the direction for Member States,
1:00:23international organizations, and the
1:00:25private sector to take action on the
1:00:27ground. So, if I use the example again,
1:00:31I must reach that goal, and here you
1:00:33see as goal 7, access to energy; it is
1:00:36not just access to energy, it is access
1:00:39to clean energy. And this was not an
1:00:45imposition by, for example,
1:00:46industrialized countries on developing
1:00:49countries. These goals are goals that
1:00:52apply to everyone. They are goals that
1:00:56apply to everyone and that everyone has
1:00:58accepted, regardless of their level of
1:00:59development.

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This page contains the full transcript of Introduzione al contesto internazionale ed europeo in materia di Agenda 2030 (Andrea Innamorati) by FormezPA, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 7,817 words across 1,289 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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