The multiplication of extreme climatic episodes that have hit Italy in recent months (deadly storms in the Marches, collapse of a glacier in July, historic drought in the Po Valley, repeated fires) could have brought back the question of climate emergency at the heart of political debates in the run-up to the legislative election on September 25, but it is clear that it remains on the sidelines of this campaign.
The Observatory of Pavia (North), a research center specializing in communication, published a rather damning study on Thursday, September 15. During the first two weeks of the campaign, from August 21 to September 4, the scientists scanned the television news and the main talk shows on RAI and the two main Italian private channels. It shows that less than 0.5% of the interventions of the main candidates relate to the climate crisis. The study, carried out in partnership with Greenpeace, also analyzed the Facebook profiles of 14 political leaders, and the effects of climate change are mentioned in just over 2% of the posts. The programs of the various formations in contention are hardly more prolific, except on the side of the center-left coalition, left behind in the polls.
“There is a cultural backwardness of most of the Italian political class, deplores Angelo Bonelli, spokesman for the environmental party Europa Verde, a formation created in 2021 which makes common ticket with the small formation The Italian Left (their alliance is credited with 3% of the vote in the polls). The vast majority of political statements on the climate crisis can be summed up as a commentary on the natural disasters that have affected the country, without proposing structural solutions. »
Lack of audience for “major topics”
If the ecological transition is found in many mouths, election campaign obliges, it is above all analyzed through the prism of the energy crisis. “ However, we must be aware that Italian energy policy has always been designed according to the interests of a hydrocarbon producer, the ENI group. »underlines Matteo Leonardi, co-founder and executive director of the Ecco Climate think tank, before pointing out the lack of ecological ambition of the European recovery plan (PNRR) put in place by the Draghi government.
” The 200 billion in funding was a historic opportunity and the PNRR was excessively politicizedhe continues. Italy is the second most inefficient country in Europe when it comes to building insulation, there are 32,000 school buildings, many of which need to be insulated, and the plan provides funding for 193 of them at scale from the country. At the same time, on transport, we decided to focus on the train and high-speed lines, without noticing that nothing was thought of to promote electric cars, despite European objectives… All these issues are adults and they do not have the audience they deserve in this campaign. »
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