The clock is ticking: decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is critical to avoid catastrophic climate disruption.
A goal that Parma, chosen by the European Commission among 100 cities in Europe and 9 in Italy to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, is clear about, in all its difficulties and opportunities. To reach it, however, what is to be done? “Fundamental is for the public and private sectors to work as a system,” agreed the many speakers who spoke at Le Village Crédit Agricole on Via Cavestro yesterday afternoon during Green Week at the meeting, “Parma carbon neutral 2030 – Tools and goals of the city toward the future,” moderated by journalist Nicola Saldutti. “The effects of climate change on people’s lives and on the environmental, social and economic systems of our cities are obvious,” says Gianluca Borghi, councillor for Environmental, Energy and Mobility Sustainability, “We need to take measures well beyond the emergency: we need to work together. A shared path and whose economic partner is precisely Crédit Agricole: “We joined from the beginning with enthusiasm because we share the objectives of this path, which points straight toward the construction of a new economy,” says Elisa Dellarosa, head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Directorate at Crédit Agricole Italia. “We consider it a collective journey that starts from Europe to reach the individual citizen.
Protagonists of this process are also the companies: “The field must be widened as much as possible so that the industrial system arrives united on these goals,” stresses Gabriele Buia, president of the Parma Union of Industrialists. “The road, however, is not easy and a lot of investment is needed. There is one aspect to consider: “The values aspect, which goes beyond goals,” adds Roberto Ciati, vice president of public affairs, science and sustainability for the Barilla Group, “is key to preparing for the future.
The first step, in fact, is precisely “to create and spread a culture of sustainability even within the small business supply chain,” says Andrea Allodi, provincial director of Cna Parma. On this path to ecological transition, a key role is played by the university: “Our students are asking us to be sustainable, we cannot fail to listen to them,” says Rector Paolo Martelli. “We have to respond adequately to the needs, including through research work. In addition, “it is necessary to change mindsets, identifying scenarios,” adds Selina Xerra, director of corporate social responsibility and territorial committees at Iren, “and to return to the practice of cooperation in order to make big changes together with the community.
A change that is not punctuated and marked only by figures, dates, and numbers: “To do things well together, you have to be prepared and aware,” notes Davide Bollati, Davines Group president, “but in addition to numbers, you have to be able to throw your heart beyond figures and measurements. Not least because “the ecological transition is the only hope we have and it must be achieved at all costs,” concludes Maria Paola Chiesi, vice president of the Chiesi Group. “To do so, it is necessary that we all go in the same direction together, beyond individual interests: the winners, in the case, would be all of us.