Safe meets sustainability leaders, Ban Ki-moon and Starace at the Master Opening Ceremony

Sustainability and global challenges at the center of the workshop “Sustainability. Moving Beyond ”, organized by SAFE. Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary General of the United Nations and Francesco Starace, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the Enel Group and President of the Administrative Board of SEforALL (Sustainable Energy for All) – an initiative launched by the United Nations to promote universal access energy – with Raffaele Chiulli, President of SAFE, and Paolo Petrecca, Director of RaiNews, discussed some key issues such as the fight against climate change, poverty, access to education and inequalities. Opening the workshop, Raffaele Chiulli highlighted how “the shock due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict force all of us to rethink our priorities, both individually and collectively”. “However – continued Chiulli – the sustainability objectives continue to concern and involve all countries and components of society, from private companies to the public sector”. According to the 8th Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon: “Despite the persistence of the pandemic and the recent Ukrainian crisis, there is no doubt that the considerable efforts made by the United Nations in raising public awareness of ‘importance of the sustainable development goals have proved fruitful ”. In particular, “the Ukrainian crisis could further accelerate this process, also in light of the close connection of fossil fuels, not only with global warming but also with the financing of bloody wars of aggression”. “The current pandemic – he noted the former UN Secretary-General will force all countries to seize unique opportunities to review policies and development plans, in order to build a cleaner, greener and more resilient world ”. Enel’s Chief Executive Officer, Francesco Starace, spoke on sustainability, energy transition and innovation. Many see it as a journey into the future, and on the one hand it is so, but in reality it is also a journey into the past, a return to the balance between man’s energy needs and the resources offered by the planet ”. “The revolution of renewable energies – continued Starace – is something well established and the majority of people are aware of it”. The energy transition therefore represents a fundamental driver for promoting a sustainable economic model: ”We must accelerate rapidly on this path – stated the CEO of Enel – bringing an improvement both from an environmental and an economic point of view. We must not be afraid of this change, because it is actually something we know and have already done: it is a question of going back to where we come from. “In this sense, training and education of the new generations represent a fundamental aspect in promoting the principles of sustainability and a lever on which to found change: “We need to do much more for our young people – underlined Ban Ki-moon-. Our generations have used the resources we have in an irresponsible way, without any sense of sustainability ”. In conclusion, a message from the 8th Secretary of the United Nations to today’s young leaders: “Raise your voice and challenge the leaders of your societies to live in the world in a truly sustainable way”.