On Thursday, May 11, we hosted at Palazzo Borromeo the event “Rethinking the future: operational proposals for sustainable development” organized in collaboration with the Office for the Promotion of Technology and Investments of the United Nations Organization (UNIDO ITPO Italy) in the framework of the seventh edition of the Sustainable Development Festival promoted by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS) to which this Embassy adheres.
The aim of the meeting was to develop a discussion on the link between sustainable development and the most innovative business strategies and policies. The current international context requires, in fact, the adoption of more integrated policies, covering the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental.
As Ambassador Di Nitto pointed out, this theme is very close to the sensitivity of the Church and the Holy Father: in the Encyclical Laudato si on the care of our common home, the Pope urges us to rethink our relationship with Creation and with the planet. The integral ecology of the Pontiff puts the person at the center of the economic vision, thus revisiting a wrong development model and not accepting the opposition between people and the environment.
“Our vocation – said Diana Battaggia, Director of UNIDO ITPO Italy – must be to seek concrete and innovative solutions that can balance the need for economic progress with that of environmental protection and the sustainability of environmental resources”. “UNIDO’s mission is animated precisely by the desire to put these principles into practice with a focus on the protection of human rights”, she stated.
Marco Giungi, Head of Unit for strategies and global multilateral processes of Italian development cooperation (MFA), focused on the reform of article 41 of the Italian Constitution, which draws a limit to the freedom of economic enterprise precisely on the environment and health. He also underlined how the interconnection highlighted in Laudato si’ is reflected in the 20230 Agenda, an action plan adopted in 2015 by the international community for a real transformation of society, with complementary and interconnected objectives.
Matteo Rizzolli, Professor at LUMSA and Member of the Scientific Committee of the Event The Economy of Francesco retraced the history of a movement that was born under the impulse of a letter from Pope Francis (published in 2019, the period between the encyclical Laudato si’ and the encyclical Fratelli Tutti) addressed to the “under 35” engaged in social work, entrepreneurs and economics scholars.
Drawing inspiration from these reflections, some representatives of the private sector engaged in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals spoke: Roberto Coin, Chairman of Roberto Coin S.p.A; Sara Roversi, President of the Future Food Institute; Elodia Gagliese, Sustainability Manager of Acquedotto Pugliese S.p.A.; and Daniela Ropolo, Head of Sustainability at CNH Industrial.
The debate was moderated by Carlo Marroni, journalist of Il Sole 24 Ore.
