Climate and poverty: world experts at the Dolomite Congress

Actual action to tackle climate change requires more than mere words. It is the realization of the importance of climate as a challenge not only to the environment but also to the social fabric of the country. These are the stated objectives of the second conference "Dolomites on Global Climate Change Management. A new hope for the climate - actions above words", organized by the Vision think tank together with Axa Italia and Autostrada del Brennero, and with the scientific partnership of Bocconi University, Politecnico di Milano, University of Trento and Oxford University. The conference will take place in Trento and Bolzano from October 5 to 8.

"Axa's choice to participate in the conference is due to its proximity to the environment and climate change, which led it to withdraw investments from the coal industry already a few years ago and to continue prioritizing sustainability in its strategic program," said Giacomo Gigantiello, CEO of Axa Italia, introducing the event.

But also the realization that "in the next 10 years there will be 130 million new poor to whom we cannot but respond", he continued. "We will do this with solutions that bridge the gap, particularly for the most vulnerable and small businesses, with the aim of protecting around 12 million of our customers in this situation. "

But that's not all. Gigantiello's stated goals include reducing the carbon footprint of the investment portfolio by 50% by 2030 and reducing the emissions impact from the insurance portfolio by 20% by the same date.

Another important aspect, of which only a small part has been seen so far, is the cost of energy transformation. "Climate change is literally pouring down on us without realizing the high costs that this transformation requires", stressed Francesco Grillo, director of the think tank Vision, "Let's think of Italy for example: Italian families will need 500 billion euros by 2033 to update their real estate properties to meet the requirements of the European Commission. And that gets us thinking about how we can turn these significant costs into investments and savings for the future. "

The specific questions to which Dolomite's second conference will seek practical solutions.

The problem of climate change, Grillo continued, "is not only the greatest challenge of the 21st century, but also a crisis that will force us to face the failure of a system of globalization that was conceived for a completely different century. And with the obsolescence of the intellectual and measurement tools that we as economists have used for decades. Paradoxically, climate change is an opportunity to actually imagine a new world. "

This idea is shared by Diego Cattoni, CEO of Autostrada del Brennero, who has announced the goal of turning the Brennero highway into Europe's first "Green Corridor", that is, "a highway without accidents and with zero environmental impact. Sustainability is part of the Autostrada del Brennero's DNA and is evident in the many measures taken from the beginning, from the high-security road to sound barriers, from investments in hydrogen to intermodality. "

In this context, the role of the new generation will be fundamental, they can and should add value with their vision. And the second Dolomite conference will focus on the ideas of students from the Bocconi University ofMilan's Bocconi master's program "Transformative Sustainability".

"We must learn to listen to the new generations, respecting them and capturing the values they bring," emphasized Francesco Billari, Rector of Bocconi University. "Climate change and demographic change are phenomena that increasingly must be researched, analyzed, and addressed in parallel, informed by data and science to guide policy decisions that increasingly seem urgent. Programmatic solutions, not emergency solutions. "

Photo from left: Diego Cattoni CEO Autostrada del Brennero, Francesco Billari Rector of Bocconi, Silvia Sgaravatti Class Cnbc, Olivia Fructus Master's student Transformative Sustainability Bocconi Polimi, Giacomo Gigantiello CEO Axa Italia, Giorgia Freddi Director of Sustainability and Public Affairs Axa Italia, Clara Donati Vision and Francesco Grillo Director of the Vision Think Tank.