Italy

FoE Italy is one of the oldest members of Friends of the Earth International. It was established in 1977, and was the first Italian association to be concerned with the political and institutional aspects of environmental problems. The organization currently has around 26,000 members and about 100 local groups.

The organization's main concern is to promote the adoption of sound public policies for the environment and for sustainable development. The activities are carried out at various levels, and include political campaigns, research, implementation of concrete projects with partners from the civil society, information dissemination, the promotion of environmental education and local initiatives. Research activities, besides giving a sound scientific basis to the organization's campaigns and political positions, represent a crucial fund-raising tool.

The Sustainable Societies and Sustainable Europe campaigns are the main framework for all of FoE Italy's activities. In the last months the organization has worked particularly on:

• Climate Change and Energy: Based on a major study which has applied the Sustainable Europe methodology to the sectors responsible for CO2 emissions, this campaign calls for the adoption of energy policies which would allow the country to respect environmental space limits. At the domestic level, FoE Italy carries out many activities aiming at the promotion of energy conservation, renewable and CHP technologies.
• Transport: The campaign for sustainable transport is based on a specific methodology for evaluating the external cost of different transport modes.
• Waste: FoE Italy aims at minimization and reduction at the source, promoting, when appropriate, recycling and re-use. FoE Italy is currently implementing a project for the productive re-use of inert materials produced by the builders of a new railway line. This will help to avoid both new landfills and a further recourse to already overexploited quarries.