Italy goes green takes young people's questions

At the event organised by Vodafone Italy, Officine Italia and Polytecnic University of Milan as part of pre-COP 26, was attended by fifty young people under 30, institutions and 10 leading companies</strong>

Milan, 1 October 2021 – Fifty youngsters, ten questions, one key issue – climate change – and one key objective: to make their voices heard at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). Italy Goes Green, organised by Vodafone Italy, Officine Italia, and the Polytechnic University of Milan, in collaboration with AsviS and ANCI, took place on 1 October at the Vodafone Theatre in Milan. The event enabled young people, experts and company representatives to discuss key climate change issues.

The issues were discussed in ten thematic working groups, leading to the formulation of ten "transformative" questions capable of generating debate and making a proactive contribution to finding new solutions to combat climate change. The aim is to carry out a real handover, submitting applications to the Italian delegation taking part in COP26, which is to be held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November.

Italy Goes Green included participation and speeches by Aldo Bisio, chief executive officer of Vodafone Italy; Jill Morris CMG, British ambassador to the Italian Republic and non-resident ambassador to the Republic of San Marino; Ferruccio Resta, chancellor of the Polytechnic University of Milan; Roberta Cocco, Milan city councillor for digital transformation and civic services; Stefano Bolognini, Lombardy region councillor for metropolitan area development, youth and communications; Veronica Nicotara, General Secretary of ANCI; Flavio Proietti Pantosti, president of Officine Italia; Luigi Di Marco, ASviS coordinator; Raffaella Cagliano, deputy director of the management engineering department of the Polytechnic University of Milan. The conference was closed by Enrico Giovannini, minister for sustainable infrastructure and mobility. During the afternoon Fabiana Dadone, minister for youth policies, talks to the young participants in the working groups.

During the event, which was part of a series of pre-COP 26 preparatory meetings ahead of the Conference to be held in Milan from 30 September to 2 October, ten thematic working groups were set up, each with five young people, a design thinking facilitator, a Polytechnic University of Milan expert and a representative from the participating companies and associations: illycaffè, COIMA RES, Italo, Leonardo, WWF, Edison, Comieco, the Chiesi Foundation and the Davines Group, Nativa, BPER Banca. Each of these entities contributed to the debate by sending a representative to help the young participants prepare their questions, bringing their knowledge of the economic and industrial sectors in which they work. The 50 young people, aged between 18 and 30, were selected from among the applications sent to the Italy Goes Green website, based on their perception of the environmental cause, their previous experience of sustainability issues, and their familiarity with the design thinking working method, a methodological approach that focuses on people's ability to respond creatively to a given theme.

Each of the thematic working groups considered the questions and comments received via the platform and used them to formulate ten "transformative" questions that the Italian delegation will take to COP26 for the following strategic areas: land use and agriculture; smart cities and life in urban areas; mobility and infrastructure; manufacturing and Industry 4.0; terrestrial biodiversity and oceans; energy; waste management and the circular economy; health and wellbeing; education and awareness; and sustainable finance and investment.

The Italy Goes Green project was launched last July via www.italygoesgreen.com, a platform that has enabled the collection of questions to ten different strategic thematic areas for combatting global warming, through an entirely digital and inclusive process: The project was also implemented with the support of Inrete Digital and Les Ramè