Ecomondo 2024, focus on combating climate change

Ecomondo 2024: one of the main themes at the heart of the work of this edition, which opens on 5 November at the Rimini Exhibition Centre until the 8th, is that of the fight against climate change, which is increasingly calling on territorial administrations to do a great deal of monitoring, forecasting, intervention, recovery and prevention work. With the disastrous images of the Valencia flood still in our eyes, pressing the urgency of safeguarding actions, the Rimini appointment is an occasion capable of bringing together companies, research, institutions and civil society to undertake a reflection and a common path.

Various contents find their way into the 221-event programme, 25 of which are international, curated by the fair's technical-scientific committee. Climate change monitoring and adaptation emerges as one of the key focuses of the 2024 edition, in response to increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Dedicated appointments will explore the potential of digital mapping, appropriate tools for land management, from Environmental Impact Assessment to the fight against environmental crimes, passing through city regeneration and land planning policies, with particular reference to Emilia-Romagna, the event's host region, victim of repeated recent floods.

The exhibition itself is divided into thematic areas: environmental monitoring and Earth observation, site and soil restoration, but also waste as a resource, water cycle and blue economy, circular and regenerative bio-economy, bioenergy and agriculture.

The challenges of the blue economy, from coastal resilience to the sustainable management of marine resources, require urgent solutions: according to recent studies, rising sea levels could cost Europe up to €872 billion by 2100, and the Mediterranean is a hotspot of accelerated climate change. Water resource management is also crucial, especially in the face of prolonged droughts.

Textiles is one of this year's focuses, with the evolution of the regulatory framework expected to shift from extended producer responsibility to this sector as well, with the exploration of concrete solutions to guarantee reparability and recyclability of garments. More generally, Italian manufacturing is coming to terms with the measurement of circularity, also in terms of CSR.