Italian
The Scientific Director of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development makes a clear appeal: climate change is advancing, the 2030 Agenda is stalled, but investing in sustainability is worthwhile. ‘We need foresight, not waiting. And young people should be listened to, not ridiculed.’
ITALY – “Accelerate, don’t slow down.” With these words, Enrico Giovannini – Scientific Director of ASviS, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development – opened his speech at Global South Innovation 2025, painting a clear and urgent picture of the environmental and social crisis we are experiencing.
Giovannini drew on two highly topical pieces of data: a survey by Imperial College London confirming a threefold increase in deaths from heatwaves in 12 European cities, and the Istat report showing alarming stagnation in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals.
“The time for waiting is over,” he said. “According to scientists, the planet’s capacity to absorb CO₂ is rapidly declining. This has a direct and growing impact on health, the economy, and social inequalities.” Giovannini said he was participating in a WHO Europe commission dedicated to the relationship between climate and health, explaining that, despite years of experience in the field, the latest data had deeply shaken him: “I came out terrified.”
But the heart of his speech was not just alarmism: it was the lack of vision. According to Giovannini, the real risk is allowing technology—understood as a set of tools and not as a vision of the future—to take over, emptying public and political debate of shared horizons. He quoted Umberto Galimberti: “Technology works, but it does not indicate goals. And today we are losing meaning, purpose, and horizon.”
Hence the call to recover a concept often ignored in Italian political discourse: foresight. “It is not a question of making prophecies or uncertain predictions, but of developing concrete visions, defining priorities, and building coherent action plans. And then having the courage to follow them.”
According to Giovannini, foresight is not at all at odds with economic logic. He recalled data released by Istat showing that Italian companies that invested heavily in sustainability between 2016 and 2018 saw a 16.2% increase in added value over the following three years compared to those that did not.
But the strongest appeal was directed at young people. Giovannini emphasized the danger of having “extinguished” the wave of enthusiasm generated by youth climate movements. “We need their visionary strength. Instead, we have mocked them, ridiculed them. And in the meantime, the best ones are leaving for elsewhere. We must tell them that we respect them, even when their ideas seem crazy to us.”
An emotional moment was dedicated to the Italian Constitution: in 2022, he recalled, Italy introduced a historic change, including the protection of the environment, biodiversity, and ecosystems “in the interest of future generations” among its fundamental principles. But change, he warned, cannot stop at written words: it must translate into political, institutional, and economic consistency.
The speech ended with a call for hope—a word that resonated several times during the event—and with encouragement not to abandon the idea of a different future: “In 2015, the world signed the 2030 Agenda. Today, we can still choose to achieve it. But we must do so together, with vision, foresight, and courage. And even if we don’t know whether we will succeed, at least we can say: we tried with all our strength.”
