Rome, Sep 30 (FN Bureau) One of the main goals of the next G20 summit should be a commitment to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 Fahrenheit), Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday. The summit of G20 leaders will take place in late October in Rome. “We are aware that we must do more, much more. This will be the goal of the Rome summit in late October. At the G20 level, we want to make a commitment to keep the temperature increase below 1.5 degrees,” the prime minister told the Youth4Climate Summit in Milan. Addressing the young eco-activists from all over the world, Draghi admitted that if current trends continue, this goal set earlier by the international community would not be achieved.
The prime minister also recalled the need to complete the promise to transfer $100 billion to support developing countries most affected by climate change. According to Draghi, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, 100 million people have found themselves below the extreme poverty line, and the total number of such persons on the planet has reached 730 million. “The climate crisis, the health crisis and the food crisis are closely interrelated,” the prime minister stressed. Before speaking at the Youth4Climate Summit, Draghi met with famous eco-activists Greta Thunberg of Sweden, Vanessa Nakate of Uganda and Martina Comparelli of Italy. They discussed Italy’s efforts to combat climate change at the national, European and international levels, the prime minister’s office said. Draghi himself told reporters that the meeting was “wonderful.” Comparelli, in turn, said that the Rome summit will show if G20 goes through with concrete actions for climate. “Let’s see what happens at the G20. Draghi knows what we are talking about.
But we need to do it,” the Italian climate activist told reporters. Earlier on Tuesday, Thunberg criticized the activities of the international community to address climate change, pointing out that politicians’ words do not lead to real actions. She described the world leaders’ approach to solving the problem as a betrayal of present and future generations. The Youth4Climate Climate Change Summit is taking place from Tuesday-Thursday in Milan, bringing together some 400 activists aged from 15 to 29. The event was organized by the Italian government as part of a partnership agreement with the United Kingdom, which is to host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference from October 31 to November 12.