Climate, Greenpeace: 19 billion damaged by bad weather in Italia in ten years
An NGO report shows disparities in aid. Allocated resources are insufficient and there are still shortcomings in prevention
Between 2015 and 2024 landslides and floods caused 19 billion euros of economic damage in Italia. This is the picture returned by a report by Greenpeace, based on Civil Protection data.
The most affected areas
The regions with the most extreme weather events are Emilia Romagna, Sicily, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto. As far as the economic impact is concerned, the areas of the country that suffered the most damage are first and foremost Emilia Romagna (2.5 billion euro), followed by Campania (1.9 billion), Veneto (1.9 billion), Abruzzo (1.8 billion) and Sicily (1.5 billion). The environmental NGO emphasises that insufficient funds have been allocated to these territories, despite the extensive damage.
Aid numbers
The amount of money allocated by successive governments over the ten years under consideration only covered 18% of the total damage. Out of the 3.1 billion total allocated to the regions, some of the worst affected areas received very low percentages. Campania and Abruzzo, both in the top 10 areas that suffered the most damage, received 7% and 3% of the aid respectively. Lombardy fared better, with allocated funds covering 17% of the damage, Emilia Romagna (17%), Piedmont (16%) and Sicily on a par with Veneto (15%).
Greenpeace complaint: insufficient resources
Even counting contributions from the European Solidarity Fund, Greenpeace estimates, the compensation measures come to just 4 billion euros. As for the funds allocated to the prevention of hydrogeological instability, this comes to 10.5 billion allocated between 2015 and 2024.
The Ispra data, reprocessed by the NGO, show a very heterogeneous situation regarding the spending of these funds by the various regions. In the first places for the use of the largest sums are Lombardy, Calabria, Veneto, Campania and Piedmont. Emilia Romagna, first in terms of number of extreme events, is only tenth in the ranking for expenditure of funds.
