Covid-19, Russian aggression on Ukraine, bombing of gas pipelines and refineries, and U.S. tariffs were not enough: the war in Iran with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz also came. And commodity and energy prices spiked further upward.
Mind you, shortly after the arrival of Covid and consequent rise of a little bit of all commodities, the era of low cost of raw materials and energy was over, the effect of the first “wave” of renewables that had lowered the cost of electricity considerably, thus enabling a relatively prosperous decade, was over. Since the advent of Covid, states, which realized that globalization had generated a number of structural weaknesses, instead of intensifying cooperation, have intensified short-lived operations. To put it more simply, they have regressed to the simple “every man for himself, God for all!”
To this picture for the past few years we need to add the growth of China, India, and Africa, which will not only raise the level of energy demand, but also attract capital and investors who were hitherto in the orbit of the “old world.” In fact, several emerging countries offer better conditions for investing capital, especially in the renewable energy sector. In particular, Africa-positioned right astride the Equator and therefore with a very high level of insolation and with a population that is very young in age and eager for development-will see an intensification of the already numerous initiatives by international investors to use the enormous spaces for the construction of photovoltaic power plants.
Italy in particular will suffer from this new competition, where a bad government has done everything to hinder renewables. This is demonstrated by the emblematic case of Energy Communities, which sink into a mountain of obstructive bureaucracy, which has always been the best way to block everything.
But within this worrisome landscape, there are entities, especially in the third sector, that manage to accomplish egregious things, with positive immediate economic spillovers for all.
I have been talking and writing about this personally for a great many years. Today, with the very serious national and global situation we are experiencing, I think it is appropriate to point out that, in addition to the already quite well-known ethical finance and insurance initiatives, bottom-up initiatives for the construction of renewable energy plants and the use of related energy have also arisen .
And there are also, among these nonprofits, those who manage to systematize from the moment by serving as a collector of the best technologies and the best companies (and best means that they offer excellent products/services, while simultaneously protecting the environment and workers to the maximum degree realistically possible).
*Gianni Girotto served as chairman of the Senate Industry Committee.
