#ELBA2035: INTERVIEW WITH LUCA MERCALLI

Among the Visionaries selected by Ernst & Young to identify the topics to be debated within the #ELBA2035 manifesto, today we have selected somebody who is very well-known to the Italian TV audience.
During the course of our interview with Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Association, he underlined how ‘In the next decades, an increase in temperature and frequency of droughts will provoke an increase in energy costs, as well as a scarcity of water on the island. It will be indispensable to adapt to the changing climate, trying to mitigate its future effects’.
This overarching perspective involves some concrete actions which need development, so Mercalli suggested some of them: ‘I expect that by 2035 all homes on Elba will run on electric sources, with solar panels, heat pumps and induction cooking. Indeed, the electrification process alone should allow us to renounce all fossil fuels by 2035, including GPL and GNL’.
Mercalli then focused his attention upon alternative energy sources: ‘It would also be desirable that by 2035, wind and solar energy sources should fundamentally contribute to the production of electrical energy necessary for the whole island’. Lastly, in order to mitigate the effects of the much feared, increasingly frequent droughts, Luca Mercalli hopes this issue will be addressed by a parsimonious planning process regarding the potable water resources of the island.
Precious advice indeed, which goes to join the other visions we shared with you during the past few days as valuable preparation material for the 1st of July webinar entitled “Sustainable Development: How Much Value Resides in Local Territories? A Shared Vision and Co-creation of Local Initiatives for Italy’s Relaunch”.