Cambiamento climatico

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Dry rivers, lakes below their usual levels, increasingly thin snowpacks, hydroelectric power at a standstill, agriculture in serious difficulty.The weekend will bring cold weather and probably snow and rain, but Italy and, in particular, the northern regions, are grappling with a prolonged lack of precipitation which heralds an alarming new year of drought. The dry Po is the worst crisis of the last 70 years The above-normal temperatures and the lack of rain in these winter months have dried out Northern Italy and the snowfall has been insufficient to replenish the waterways.According to data from the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences (ISAC) and the CNR, collected in the Drought Observatory bulletin, 2022 was the driest year since 1800 with a deficit of 30% at the end of the period.In the North the percentage of less rain rises to 40%:out of 12 months, only December was average.T...

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. From photovoltaic panels to wind turbines to electric batteries:the ecological transition passes through critical raw materials, also known by the English acronym CRM (Critical Raw Materials).Well-known metals such as lithium and cobalt, lesser-known but equally important minerals such as bauxite or rare earths, critical raw materials are defined as such precisely because of their economic importance and the supply risk associated with them.As writes the European Commission, “reliable and unhindered access to certain raw materials is a growing concern within the European Union and around the world.To address this challenge, the European Commission has created a list of critical raw materials (CRMs) for the EU, which is subject to regular review and update."Starting from 2011, the list of CRMs at European level is drawn up and updated every three years, based on supply contingencies and econom...

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. While Italy continues to grapple with the water crisis and lack of rainfall, the Council of Ministers of 6 April he approved the so-called "Drought Decree", a decree-law which introduces "urgent provisions for the prevention and fight against drought and for the strengthening and adaptation of water infrastructure".The measure had been announced more than a month ago, March 1st. Substantially, the decree law centralizes the management of decision-making processes - the government speaks of a "simplified regime that refers to the PNRR model" - through the establishment of a control room and the appointment of a National Extraordinary Commissioner for water scarcity, who will be able take the place of local authorities in the event that the time required for the works to be carried out should be extended, and identifies some lines of intervention to "increase the resilience of water systems to...

PNIEC, RePowerEu, Mattei plan:for Italy, the summer of 2023 could be remembered as the season in which the energy of the future was designed.First there pandemic and then there gas price crisis, the war in Ukraine and a sharp increase in inflation have made a systemic update of the Italian energy model necessary.This complex historical period must then be accompanied by new environmental objectives sanctioned by the European Union in recent years, who wants to place himself at the head of the ecological transition.  Thus the Meloni government found itself having to prepare, since its inauguration in October 2022, a series of plans and projects with which to adapt to the new balances between now and 2030, with the aim of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. “The ecological transition and environmental sustainability must go hand in hand with social and economic sustainability”, he reiterated recently the Prime Minister at the Assolombarda assembly to reassure the business world....

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The recovery from the pandemic first, the war in Ukraine and then a dry summer, triggered an earthquake in the energy markets, so much so that Europe in May 2022 with the plan RePowerEU has decided to progressively cut its dependence on Russian gas and review its own upwards objectives for the energy transition. Italy also moved quickly to reorganize its own gas supplies, in view of a possible interruption of that coming from Russia, on which Italy, until a few months ago, depended for around 40% of its consumption. In the aftermath of the Russian invasion, the Draghi government did not hesitate to send the then foreign minister to Algeria Luigi Di Maio, accompanied by the CEO of ENI, Claudio Descalzi, to forge agreements that would guarantee Italy supplies of alternative gas to the Russian one.At the beginning of the new year, the Meloni government completed those agreements and also signed...