This year we are celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the historic United Nations Conference in Rio de Janeiro, which, way back in 1992, introduced the concept of "sustainable development" into the jargon of international agreements for the first time, putting it at the centre of a real agenda for the twenty-first century. Since then, the progress made in re-establishing a long-standing balance between humans and the planet that hosts us has unfortunately not been as expected.

This year we are celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the historic United Nations Conference in Rio de Janeiro, which, way back in 1992, introduced the concept of "sustainable development" into the jargon of international agreements for the first time, putting it at the centre of a real agenda for the twenty-first century. Since then, the progress made in re-establishing a long-standing balance between humans and the planet that hosts us has unfortunately not been as expected. 

In particular, the climate crisis has continued to assert itself as the main environmental threat in the new millennium, and we are already seeing and experiencing many of its effects today. Thirty years ago, we promised to stop the increase in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the last millennium. Not only have we failed, but in the last twenty years we have even witnessed a sharp, historically unprecedented rise in these emissions. 

However, in the same period, we have also developed solutions and technologies that, if adequately promoted, could turn the curve of emissions downwards. Just think of renewable energy - in particular sun and wind - which has drastically cut costs in the last decade, enough to have become the cheapest energy source - and the most widely available - in circulation today, far above gas, coal or nuclear.
But why is this not yet enough?

Of course there are various factors, and they range from the objective difficulty of imposing such a radical change on consolidated models of production and consumption, to obstacles continuously put in place by certain actors - fewer and fewer, however - to defend their own partial interests.
But maybe the biggest problem weighing on this inability to act decisively is the difficulty of creating a common consciousness, a widespread culture of sustainability. You only need to leaf through the newspapers at the moment to see how the public debate - from energy prices to a possible return to nuclear power - is characterised by a complete lack of credible, shared information. 

Of course, this is very much influenced by the media, which often reveals itself to be ill-suited to addressing a topic such as sustainability, which is so difficult to sensationalise beyond a few exceptional or catastrophic events.
Just look at the space dedicated to these topics on newspapers' front pages, in particular in Italy: if stopping climate change is the top political priority of this era, as many say, how come it isn't constantly at the forefront of the daily news?

A couple of years ago, with the Sustainable Development Foundation, we launched the initiative Italy for Climate to try to help unblock this stalemate in the spread of information.

We are convinced that we need to act to inform and raise awareness at all levels, across every section of society,

and that one of the causes of the slowing down of policies for the climate is the fact that this issue has been confined to the narrow area of debate among experts and specialists, thinking that they will convince politicians to act.
Obviously it doesn't work like that.
A great film that came out recently depicts this short-circuit very well, coining a very apt slogan: Don't Look Up (the 2021 film written and directed by Adam McKay). 

In very recent times, we have witnessed the birth of many youth movements for the climate, movements that accuse us adults of not having done enough to stop the climate crisis.

It all started when fifteen-year-old Greta Thunberg started to demand stronger action for the climate in front of the Swedish Parliament Building in August 2018. Little by little, this movement spread internationally, inviting students from all over the world to skip their lessons every Friday in protest, with the motto #FridaysForFuture.

Youth4Climate, the youth conference on the climate that was held in September 2021 in Milan, has become part of the process of youth involvement that started in 2019 with the United Nations Youth Climate Summit, which took place in New York on the 21st September 2019.