Climate, Italy is in 'overshoot':in 5 months the natural resources of 2024 will be exhausted

The Old Continent consumes more than the Earth can "naturally" produce in a year

ROME - In 2024, Italy has reached the point of consuming 500% of its resources, or five times its annual possibilities.And so, already before the end of May, it will have dried up all the natural sources of its territory.Only Japan is worse than her.If there is no reversal of the trend, in the near future only Italy should, 'imaginatively', have a surface area three times the size of planet Earth to satisfy the growing demand for resources by Italians.Not to mention the United States (five times the Earth), Australia (four times), Russia with Germany (3 times).These are just some of the main data released by Unicusano which, in its latest infographic, analyzes in depth the climate crisis and food stability, focusing on the risks and social, territorial and entrepreneurial consequences.
Scrolling through the infographic we notice how, despite popular belief, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Luxembourg have the greatest impact on the climate crisis on our planet, while in the ranking of the most virtuous stand out Indonesia, Ecuador and Jamaica.Therefore no European country has really adopted policies against the climate crisis and the depletion of resources:the Old Continent consumes more than the earth can "naturally" produce in a year.And so the overshoot days flock:in a few months (five for Italy) the renewable resources that the planet is able to regenerate within 365 days have been exhausted. By May 2023, Italy had already consumed all the 2024 resources.An aspect to take into account next May 19th, when the Bel Paese will begin to burn the resources of 2025 worryingly early too..

To aggravate the situation, according to the Unicusano study, contribute toexcessive use of plastic, food waste and accessibility to food.While on the one hand there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic which, for years, have been sailing in our seas, contributing to the creation of plastic islands (with extensions reaching 10 million square kilometres, or eight times the size of Italy) , on the other hand, on a global level, there is food waste of 30% of the food produced, causing the emission of 4.8 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And of what we eat, however, at least 5 grams per week are microplastics.In Italy alone, food waste reaches 67 kg per year per capita. Food, however, is paradoxically the victim and driver of climate change:it is responsible for a third of global emissions.
The Unicusano infographic then highlights how the ongoing climate crisis not only has repercussions on an ecological, social and food level, but also hits hard on the productive and entrepreneurial fabric of a country.Between 1980 and 2020 Germany, France and Italy recorded the highest economic losses.Today 79% of companies are afraid of the impact of climate change and 97% have already felt the impact on energy, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure.

The Earth of the future is scary and upon closer inspection:exceeding the temperature threshold within the next 10 years, Sahara-like climate for 3.5 billion people within 50 years and an increase in summer temperatures of +5°C by 2070.And the list continues:exceeding the heat tolerance threshold (with respective increase in the mortality rate), extinctions, displacement of more than 30% of the European population who, today, lives within 50 km of the coasts.
As always, minorities will pay the consequences of floods, droughts, rising seas, soil erosion and heat waves:small farmers, women, the unemployed, indigenous populations, poor and developing countries where agriculture is life, people living in low-income urban areas.

According to the Unicusano study, between 1990 and 2019, global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans increased by 54%;170 years after a 1°C increase in temperatures, scientists' alarm is stronger than ever:for the digital university, if the damage is not limited, by 2030 global warming will reach peaks of +1.5/3°C with disastrous consequences.
The government solution to put a patch on the superficial behavior of men and companies in recent years comes from COP 28, with significant economic implications, however.If it is true, in fact, that the strategy of temporarily exceeding the 1.5°C threshold can help, it is necessary to implement (expensive) methods and technologies capable of removing the greatest quantity of CO2 from the atmosphere by releasing it in the shortest time possible in seas, vegetation and lands.

The Member States' project is therefore this:reach peak emissions by 2025 and then reduce them by 43% by 2030 and 60% by 2035.
There is a solution and it irremediably requires a social, cultural, political and economic revolution, but we must act quickly.Decarbonizing society, following balanced plant-based diets, opting for urban planning for the benefit of green spaces, reducing the use of plastic and changing purchasing behavior are, for the Unicusan, only the beginning of what must be a radical transformation that starts jointly from below and from above, from education to politics.One shot at the rim and one at the barrel.