In view of the “International Earth Day”On April 22, we met Professor Andrea Geremicca, director of theEuropean Institute of Innovation for Sustainability (Eis), entrepreneur, professor and authoritative voice on the issues of climate change and sustainable innovation
Earth day and duties: a necessary dialogue in a delicate period
In a delicate moment for global environmental policies, marked by the United States decision to apply duties on economic relations with the European Union, Professor Andrea Geremicca, director of theEuropean Institute of Innovation for Sustainability (Eis, an English acronym) Exposes us his thought on risks, contradictions and possible future scenarios.
An interview focused on the climate, no longer only from an environmental but also economic, social and geopolitical point of view. Below, on the occasion of the International Earth Daywe asked the professor some questions.
How do you evaluate the impact of the United States decision to introduce duties on the EU in environmental issue?
«It is a dangerous precedent: it says that in times of international cooperation to win one of the most complex challenges of our species, geopolitics is worth more than the biosphere. This changes the cards on the table. Until yesterday the climate was a collective challenge, now it risks becoming a standard war. And Europe, which has made Green Deal its geopolitical business card, suddenly finds itself unarmed in a negotiation that speaks the language of the duty, not of cooperation. We are no longer in a virtuous race to those who save the planet, but to those who control it in the short term».
How does the increase in costs for green technologies affect renewables?
«It affects exactly where it hurts more: on the network effect. Renewables expand only if they climb. But if the blades cost more and the panels arrive in fits and starts, the system deforms: costs increase, it slows down trust, investments move. But there is an even more subtle risk: that the green becomes elitist. If only large utilities can afford the installation, the transition loses its democratic force. It is like building the internet for a fee: yes, it works, but only for those who can afford it».
What to observe to avoid a setback?
«It is necessary to monitor where the value chain breaks. Not only in factories or financial markets, but in human capital, in the territories, in the competence centers. If you stop believing who is carrying out this transition, who studies it, who finances it … then the numbers also start collapsing. In the coming months they will count less the macro and more invisible and value indicators: the speed of operations, the confidence of the managing directors, the ability to attract talents still attentive to sustainability».
Can commercial policies interfere with climatic objectives?
«They cannot. They already do it. Each dice, every barrier, every bureaucratic delay that affects green technologies has an equivalent in Co₂. If a wind project jumps because the materials arrive late or cost too much, that energy space will be filled with fossil fuels. Commercial policies have become an accelerator or a climate curve brake».
Faced with these critical issues, What kind of strategy should Europe adopt?
«Europe today has the opportunity to demonstrate that sustainability and competitiveness are not alternatives, but two sides of the same strategy. This refers Competitiveness Compass, a compass designed to guide growth in strategic sectors, aligning rules, public funds and private investments. In other words: it is not just about defending a model, but of strengthening it. Investing in the transition now also means strengthening Europe’s ability to choose one’s future with clear rules, clean technologies and reliable supply chains, all this mitigates the risk of businesses in the long run».
What does it mean “Mobilitating internal resources”?
«It means treating the territory not as a cost, but as an asset.
It means seeing a potential energy community in each public building. In every school, a laboratory. In every municipality, an accelerator. It means activating the economy of the possible: redeveloping, converting, regenerating. You don’t just need money: procedures that work are needed, people who know, local pacts. Every euro mobilized must become a visible, replicable, measurable project».
What new alliances can Europe build?
«The alliances of the future will not arise from force, but from shared fragility. Climate, energy, supplies: they are global challenges that nobody can face alone. Europe today has the opportunity to build new relationships, based no longer on help, but on reciprocity: to co-design sustainable technologies, co-produce clean energy, co-winter ethical supply chains. In many regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America there is talent, demand and natural resources. If they are treated as a partner, and not as suppliers, these areas can become protagonists of the transition together with Europe».
We thank Professor Andrea Geremicca (Eis), who on the occasion of Earth Day, allowed us to deepen the current challenges of environmental policies, in light of the recent duties imposed by the USA to the EU.