2030 diary

With one year that has closed and another that has now opened, the image of the passage of time can well be applied not only to our lives, but also to the planet and its state of health: the economic, social and the environmental one. We all know that on a global level the United Nations forum has given itself a very precise roadmap, identifying the direction to take, the way to go and the objectives to be achieved.

This is what we know as the 2030 Agenda, the action plan signed in 2015 by 193 countries around the world which identifies 17 sustainable development goals to be achieved by the year 2030. Much ink has so far been spilled on the subject and much more will be paid in the decade that awaits us, but is it possible to understand where we are here in Italy, what are we doing well and what we are dangerously behind? We are helped by a work published by ASviS, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, a network of civil society organizations, today with over 280 members, created precisely to spread the culture of sustainability and knowledge of the 2030 Agenda. from the analysis carried out we discover that we have a good chance of hitting the target on some quantitative targets that are associated with three of the 17 objectives (otherwise called "Goal"): this is Goal 2 (relating to the share of crops destined for organic crops), Goal 3 (which aims at reducing the mortality rate due to the most frequent causes) and Goal 16 (relating to contrasting the overcrowding of prisons).

We are also not at all bad with other four targets concerning Goal 4 (Early exit from the education and training system and Share of graduates and other tertiary qualifications), Goal 7 (Share of energy from renewable sources) and Goal 13 ( Share of greenhouse gas emissions), with the latter also being primary objectives of the so-called European Green Deal.

If all in all we manage to do so, the known pains arrive on the remaining 14 quantitative targets, which in summary concern Goal 1 (Share of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion), Goal 2 (Use of fertilizers), Goal 3 (Road accidents), Goal 5 (Gender equality in employment rate), Goal 6 (Efficiency of water networks), Goal 8 (Employment rate 20-64 years), Goal 9 (Expenditure on research and development ), Goal 10 (Inequality of disposable income), Goal 11 (Air quality and public transport supply), Goal 12 (Waste production), Goal 14 (Marine protected areas), Goal 15 (Consumption of soil and land protected areas), Goal 16 (Duration of civil proceedings).

In short, Italy - says ASviS - is not on a path in line with the 2030 Agenda Goals and the current crisis, moreover, has a negative impact on nine of them. It is therefore necessary to have it in mind, to design strategies and actions for the next decade.

Stefano Caredda
NP january 2021