G20 environment ministers gathered in Naples for a two-day summit.
Its topics are global warming, financing the transition to green energy, water management and wildlife protection.
The U.S. President’s special envoy on climate, John Kerry, met with Roberto Cingolani, Italy’s Minister of Environmental Transformation. They stated: it is necessary to do everything possible to prevent the temperature increase on the planet by 1.5 degrees.
The summit in Italy is a preparatory stage for the UN climate conference to be held in Glasgow in November.
The participants of the protest in the center of Naples called to include into its agenda the item on writing off foreign debts to developing countries as a compensation for environmental damage. Demonstrators quoted Diego Maradona, who said that because of the burden of debt, many nations are unable to cope with rising unemployment and poverty.
Oscar Soria, director of the NGO Avaaz:
“Many developed countries have enriched themselves by exploiting the environment. Today we demand that they pay their ecological debt by writing off their foreign debt to developing countries. Then the latter can rebuild their economies after the collapse caused by the pandemic.”
Activists urged the summit participants to act more decisively to prevent an environmental catastrophe.
Some countries have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. But scientists assure us that to keep temperatures from rising, emissions must be reduced by 40 percent by the end of this decade.
