INTERMEDIATE NEGOTIATIONS 2023: LAME START
Today, Monday 5 June 2023, the Interim Climate Negotiations under the auspices of the UNFCCC, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, began - the same setting in which the much better-known climate COPs are organised every year.
The Italian Climate Network has always followed the interim negotiations because, during the two weeks in June (which always take place in Bonn, Germany, where the UNFCCC is headquartered), not only is the secretariat's budget for the rest of the year and other (apparently) technical issues defined, but it is also possible to understand the general direction of international policy and thus the atmosphere in preparation for the next COP.
G7 OF IMMOBILISM: HIROSHIMA FOSSIL VIBES
For some years now, those of us who follow international climate policy has been equipped to closely follow the work of the G7 and G20, forums that help to guess the direction of the next COP, according to the now customary G7-G20-COP calendar, with increasing degrees of involvement of the world's different governments.
BEYOND GROWTH’ UNEXPECTED POLITICAL CONVERGENCES TOWARDS THE 2024 ELECTIONS
The conference event on the future of the concept of development, 'Beyond Growth', was held at the European Parliament in Brussels and organised by the main European political groups: Greens (Greens/EFA), Left (The Left), Socialists, Democrats, Progressives (S&D), Popular and Christian Democrats (EPP), Liberals (Renew), ended in the late afternoon of 17 May. The conference aimed to give a new centrality to the topic of development limits at the continental level, hopefully, given a future 'European Green and Social Pact'. Italian Climate Network participated in the three-day conference.
RECENT PROGRESS TOWARDS THE APPROVAL OF THE NATIONAL PLAN FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
On Dec. 28, 2022, the updated draft of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change - PNACC was published on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE), and on Feb. 16, 2023, the public consultation under the procedure of (Strategic Environmental Assessment, SEA) opened. The consultation allows citizens, communities, and all public and private stakeholders to contribute comments to the drafting of the Plan. The consultation lasted for 45 days (deadline April 14), and currently, the Plan is being evaluated by the SEA Commission.
THE EU RELAUNCHES ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY. BY 2030, 42.5 PER CENT OF ELECTRICITY MUST BE PRODUCED FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES.
The political agreement reached by the European Parliament, Commission and EU member states includes a legally binding target to increase the share of renewable energy in overall EU energy consumption to 42.5 percent by 2030. In practical terms, this means doubling the clean share in the EU's energy mix, which currently stands at 22.1 percent, according to internal statistics. The agreement closes negotiations on key elements of the EU's "Fit for 55" climate package, unveiled in July 2021, which aims to achieve a 55 percent net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.