Connecting on climate action and Sustainable Development Goals

Global action on climate change to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals was a key message delivered by the Italian Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea at the United Nations High Level Political Forum in New York. All4TheGreen, the Ministry’s collaboration with the Connect4Climate program of the World Bank Group, was presented as an important case-study to encourage citizen engagement to achieve a sustainable future. All4TheGreen was a week of more than 80 events in the lead-up to the recent G7 Environment minister’s meetings in the cultural and academic hub of Bologna, Italy.

A vibrant Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Media Zone that engaged a global audience and created a ground-breaking link to the UN Ocean Conference in New York to enable a live interaction of ideas and energy featured prominently during the All4TheGreen week, from July 5-12. The summary video on this was presented by the Italian Ministry during “The Global Climate Action Agenda, a solution provider to implement the SDGs” side-event, see https://youtu.be/jNfv7tzyhDM.
 
The All4TheGreen week kicked off on World Environment Day with an inspiring open-air “Concert for the Earth” featuring Ezio Bosso to an audience of thousands gathered in the ancient city square. Throughout the week, spectacular art works and exhibits populated the piazzas, urban spaces were rehabilitated, students challenged and children educated.
 
In addition, impactful documentaries were shown on Europe’s biggest outdoor screen, powered by solar energy, and faith leaders from all denominations declared their collective support for protecting our planet. The All4TheGreen week spread the global message that we need to transition to a low-carbon, resilient and sustainable future -  that “we all need to be for the green.” 
 
Reaching 150 million online Connect4Climate brought together businesses, NGOs, academia, artists, and international organizations to make Bologna ‘the capital for the Environment,’ and by the end of the week the ministers had declared at the G7 Environment that substantial financing as “fundamental” to the achievement of sustainability and climate goals, giving climate action and environmental protection a welcome boost of green energy.