Italy has approved the National Plan for adaptation to climate change

They took well six years from the first draft and four Prime Ministers who followed one another, from Paolo Gentiloni to Giorgia Meloni, but in the end the objective was achieved: Italy approved the National plan for adaptation to climate changethe PNACC, containing 361 actions aimed at natural, social and economic systems to respond to the climate change challenge facing the entire world.

The green light arrived on December 21st with a decree from the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin with decree no. 434. 106 pages that open with a fact: “Climate change represents and will represent in the future one of the most significant challenges to face globally and also in Italy. Italy is located in the so-called “Mediterranean hot spot”, an area identified as particularly vulnerable to climate change. Furthermore, the national territory is notoriously subject to natural risks (disaster phenomena, floods, coastal erosion, water shortage) and it is already evident today that the increase in temperatures and the intensification of extreme events connected to climate change (drought , heat waves, winds, intense rains, etc.) amplify these risks whose economic, social and environmental impacts are destined to increase in the coming decades“.

The document immediately underlines the importance of the implementation of adaptation actions in the territory to deal with the risks caused by climate change. The planning of adequate actions, according to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, requires:

• a knowledge base of the phenomena that is systematized;
• an optimal organizational context;
• multilevel and multisectoral governance

The objective of the document is to provide a national framework for the implementation of actions aimed at reducing the risks deriving from climate change to the minimum possible, improve the adaptive capacity of socioeconomic and natural systemsas well as to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise with the new climatic conditions.

The National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change puts in black and white how rainfall, temperatures and humidity have changed over time in Italy, complete with graphs and tables that make everything easier to understand, starting from the system national collection, processing and dissemination of climate data, SCIAcreated by the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and powered in collaboration and with data from the National Environmental Protection System (SNPA) and the main monitoring networks distributed across the national territory.

Climate changes are evident, both on the climate front average temperature since 1981 both on that of precipitation, through the number of hottest days and extreme drought, and the PNACC addresses them in detail, analyzing the impact on the cryosphere and mountains, on water resources and marine environments, but also on coastal areas and on the soil more generally, with a focus on geological, hydrological and hydraulic instability.

The 361 actions envisaged by the plan have been divided into three main categories and clearly explained in the document downloadable at this address:

• non-structural actions (soft): 274 shares equal to 76% of the totaldistributed evenly across almost all sectors
• actions based on an ecosystem approach (green): 46 shares equal to 13%mainly in the forestry sector
• infrastructural and technological actions (grey): 41 shares equal to 11% of the totalconcentrated in the energy sector

If we can rejoice because a first and important step has been taken, at the moment it is a plan on paper. In order for these actions to materialize, economic resources are needed which currently do not exist, as underlined by Legambiente: “Now, however, we remind the Minister of the Environment and the Meloni Government that to implement the PNACC it will be essential to allocate the necessary economic resources which are currently still absent, not even foreseen in the latest budget law, otherwise the risk is that the national adaptation plan climate change remains only on paper“.

Stefano Ciafaninational president of Legambiente, thus welcomed the approval of the National Plan for adaptation to climate change:

Italy is increasingly exposed to the advancing climate crisis and the intensification of extreme weather events which in 2023 reached 378, +22% compared to the previous year. For this reason, it is essential to implement a clear and decisive prevention strategy by implementing the 361 actions identified in the Plan as soon as possible, including the flood areas and basins and the renaturalisation processes of the river basins and slopes to give space back to the rivers, to ensure that our Peninsula coexists with the climate emergency in the coming years, thus avoiding chasing emergencies. Just for the damage of the two floods that hit Romagna and Tuscany in 2023, Italy spent 11 billion euros, i.e. over a third of the 2024 budget law just approved by Parliament. Economic resources, which could be partly saved with prevention campaigns and adaptation and mitigation actions carried out in time. For this reason, in the coming years it will also be important to intensify local prevention policies and awareness campaigns on coexistence with risk, to transform our country from the most exposed in the center of the Mediterranean Sea to an example for others.