The “real world” driving the just transition
Interview with Grammenos Mastrojeni
Who is Grammenos Mastrojeni?
Grammenos Mastrojeni is an Italian diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) responsible for climate action and energy. With extensive experience in international cooperation and environmental policy, he served as Coordinator for the Environment for Development Cooperation and Head of the Science-Policy Interface at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation until 2019. He has been a delegate to the United Nations, participating in various international negotiations on environmental issues, and has served as consul in Brazil, political advisor in Paris and at the Farnesina, and deputy ambassador in Iran and Canada. A member of the Club of Rome, he teaches and collaborates with several Italian and international universities on geostrategy, environmental management, resources, and conflict resolution. He is the author of several books and essays dedicated to the impact of environmental changes on social cohesion and global peace.
Dr. Mastrojeni, this is your first experience as part of the Green Social Impact Manager faculty. What prompted you to accept the Foundation’s invitation and offer your expertise to our young people here in Filogaso?
Curiosity about this experience, which is so different from those generally known. It is located where one does not expect to find such initiatives, and for reasons that are not the most common. Therefore, beyond the pleasure I always take in engaging in dialogue with young people and lending a hand on these fronts, I really wanted to discover what was behind it.
You became acquainted with the Foundation during COP30 in Belém, which saw significant participation from Third Sector actors. How fundamental do you believe the role of organizations like the Augurusa Foundation is in promoting a just transition and contributing concretely to the fight against climate change?
As I explained during the lesson with the students, we cannot expect the solution to come from above. From above, one can only organize a facilitation of the mobilization of the real world. And organizations like the Augurusa Foundation are “the real world”: it is you who bring the solution, rather than what revolves around the COP.
Calabria, located in the heart of the Mediterranean, is a land of many fragilities but also great potential. How important is it that programs like the Green SIM start precisely from local territories to build a response to the climate crisis that is also social and cultural?
They cannot help but start from the territories because we are not talking about a large, abstract decision. A choice for sustainability must be made in real life, and sustainability has its own natural spatial container called a “concrete territory.” A concrete territory is where a certain type of nature has expressed a certain type of culture, a certain type of production, and a certain way of doing things. Calabria certainly has a great deal to offer in this sense. Like the entire Mediterranean, it faces a risk, which is the transition toward new natural scenarios. Therefore, it will have to adapt its production and consequently its activities, but this can be seen as a major problem or a great opportunity. When you have to change everything, there is also the opportunity to capitalize on what previously found no outlet.
Do you think experiences like the Green Social Impact Manager can engage with the Union for the Mediterranean in preparing young people capable of working on sustainability, territorial cohesion, and Euro-Mediterranean collaboration?
Certainly, yes.
