How green is my Draghi? Roberto Cingolani, minister for ecological transition, came into government from a senior job in the defence industry, an odd background for an eco-warrior. He s responsible for handling some 70 billion of euro, or almost 30% of Pnrr. Da The Economist.
Off all the appointments to Mario Draghi’s cabinet, arguably the least expected was that of Roberto Cingolani, his minister for ecological transition. A physicist and former science director of the Italian Institute of Technology, Mr Cingolani came into government from a senior job in the defence industry, an odd background for an eco-warrior.
Mr Cingolani counters that he has taught courses on sustainability but that, anyhow, his new brief touches on so many different aspects of science that no one could be an expert in them all. His ministry’s remit is certainly vast: it is charged with overseeing the allocation and spending of the biggest chunk of the €235bn ($285bn) that Mr Draghi plans to devote to post-pandemic recovery, mostly comprising grants and loans from the eu, but with a sizeable top-up from Italy’s own resources. The ministry for ecological transition is responsible for handling some €70bn, or almost 30% of it. And since Italy will get more than any other eu country from the European Commission, there should be scope for it to play a decisive part in helping the eu reach its target of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions to 55% below the level of 1990 by 2030.
