The government must roll out more initiatives to boost Italy's crucial 'green' sector, which has huge potential to expand and to drive economic development, Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte said on Friday.
"Italy's green sector has enormous potential for growth, also in terms of jobs and employment. The government must create the most favourable environment possible to nurture it," Conte said.
Italy's 2020 budget contains "significant" measures to bolster the green economy "despite the extremely complex state of the country's public finances," he said.
Conte was speaking at the launch of the Assisi Manifesto in support of the circular economy to combat the global climate crisis.
"Expenditure aimed at protecting the environment and cutting emissions cannot be considered a cost. On the contrary, it is an essential investment to reduce the 'ecological debt'," Conte went on.
Current leaders are leaving to future generations the task of an environmentally sustainable economy, he said.
"Ecological debt will continue to grow unless we can combat soil erosion, expand the circular economy and drastically cut emissions," Conte warned.
