Italy’s Meloni calls COP28 a ‘turning point,’ pushes for concrete actions

ROME

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday that the COP28 climate conference in Dubai must be a turning point, with governments called upon to set a “clear direction” and enact reasonable but concrete actions.

In her speech at the plenary session, Meloni stressed that the summit “is a key moment in our efforts to contain global temperature rise to within 1.5°C.”

She warned that, while there are reasons to be optimistic in the process of reaching climate's key targets, “the main goal remains far off.”

“We are called upon to set a clear direction and enact concrete actions – reasonable but concrete – such as tripling the world’s renewable energy generation capacity by 2030 and doubling the global rate of annual energy efficiency improvements,” she added.

Italy’s prime minister said the country “is doing its part in the decarbonization process, and it does it in a pragmatic way, that means with a technology-neutral approach, free from unnecessary radicalism.”

“If we want to be effective, if we want environmental sustainability that does not compromise the economic and social sphere, what we must pursue is an ecological transition, and not an ideological one,” she noted.

Meloni confirmed that Italy intends to direct “an extremely significant share of the Italian Climate Fund – whose overall endowment is €4 billion ($4.4 billion) – to the African continent.”

She added, however, that African countries need to be put in the condition to compete on an equal footing, in order to grow and prosper thanks to the multitude of resources that the continent owns.

Meloni also stated that Italy will continue to support the Green Climate Fund also in the next cycle, contributing with €100 million to the new “loss and damage” fund, strongly pursued by the Emirates’ Presidency.

All these priorities will also be at the heart of Italy's G-7 Presidency in 2024, she concluded.