The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has joined the “M’illumino di Meno” (“Less Lighting”) initiative both by switching off the lights in the Cour d’Honnneur of the Farnesina Palace and those lighting up the flags hoisted in front of it, and also through similar initiatives launched in numerous diplomatic and consular Offices around the world.
The Foreign Ministry has long been committed to promoting higher environmentally friendly standards through various initiatives promoted both at the Ministry and in the diplomatic and consular Offices abroad. More specifically, the Foreign Ministry has installed a photovoltaic plant on the roof of the Farnesina Palace and has introduced a selective waste management system and the free distribution and consumption of micro-filtered water and Fair Trade drinks in the canteen, thus eliminating cans and bottles.
Environmental friendliness is also the target of the diplomatic and consular network abroad, with numerous offices fitted with photovoltaic systems and phytodepuration plants for the treatment waste water, the first of which was installed in the Italian Embassy in Brasilia. Other offices, including the Italian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, have adopted a “handbook” to reduce the offices’ environmental impact.
The Foreign Ministry also promotes the values of environmental sustainability through the Rome Forum of Green Embassies, which was launched in 2015. The Forum organises periodic meetings with the foreign diplomatic community in Rome with a view to sharing good practices, challenges and experiences with waste disposal systems, mobility and Green Procurement, and to launching new environmentally friendly initiatives capable of increasingly transforming the Foreign Ministry and the foreign diplomatic missions in Rome into eco-friendly workplaces.
