Sustainability, true sustainability, is not in good health. A word worn out and overused for years corresponds to a snapshot of today's world, with the world in turmoil never seen before, with the cornerstones of sustainable development creaking under the blows of tragic and endless wars, growing inequalities, and a worsening climate crisis. Yet, all it takes is a steadfast commitment to optimism, sticking to the facts and not allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by fear and slogans, to realize that things are very different, and we have the right to look forward with good and well-founded hope. Starting with the summary of the winning strategy, penned by Alexander Langer, a staunch and poetic fighter for sustainability, who sadly passed away too soon: "Ecological conversion requires personal behavior and royal decrees." And on both sides, there is no reason to surrender to all-encompassing catastrophism. Quite the opposite.
The primacy of politics. The "king's decrees" Langer spoke of are nothing other than political decisions, at all levels, from a neighborhood council to the UN. The facts tell us that the entire UN system, including the Climate Conferences (the latest, number 30, just concluded in Brazil), is paralyzed by the crossed vetoes of states that effectively dominate the institution. This leaves wars deprived of the only table where real negotiations for peace can begin, and international summits on the climate crisis are held captive by fossil fuel industry lobbyists. But now the king is naked, and even the younger generations have become convinced that only a strong resurgence of multilateralism and its institutions, through political decisions, will advance sustainability.
New lifestyles. Here too, optimism stems from a word that's gaining traction: awareness. We all know, especially the younger generations who are focused on the future and not stuck in the present, that "personal behaviors," when added together, make a difference. And we now understand them, one by one, from the use of natural resources to the need to reduce—without impoverishing ourselves, but rather enriching ourselves—what's unnecessary. Among the winners of the 2025 Non-Waste Awards , a few days ago, in the Aula Magna of the Luiss University, before hundreds of high school students, an entrepreneur from the Marche region presented a straw made from pasta scraps, which fish can even eat, without suffering harm, as is the case with plastic straws. He also pointed out that, meanwhile, a billion plastic straws are consumed worldwide every day. "Too many and useless," was the unanimous comment from the students.
True sustainability. While the word sustainability has lost its appeal (many companies, after using it even to write fake financial statements, now tend to avoid even mentioning it), the line between truth and falsehood in sustainable development is finally clear. That is, without directly addressing issues of social justice (well-being for all, not just for a privileged few), rights, and people's living conditions in general, sustainability is an empty shell . Or, worse, a fraud.
The new language. When a word wears out, others must be added to revitalize it and halt its eclipse. And sustainability has now definitively been associated with the word "future." Here again, I'll give an example. ASVIS, the most widespread and authoritative Italian network for sustainable development, has placed a new entity at the center of its action, whose name sums up its program: Ecosistema Futuro. This is the first breach in the wall of fear and skepticism that threatens to paralyze the roadmap to true sustainability, which also needs to update its dictionary, key words, and language. All things that the new generations have long been pointing out.
Science advances with Artificial Intelligence. The "ecological conversion" summarized in Langer's appeal, especially after what happened in 2025, has an additional tool: Artificial Intelligence . With its limitations, the disturbing questions it raises (starting with its thirst for domination), AI, precisely thanks to its demonstrated inexhaustible capabilities, will help everyone give due weight to the certainties documented by science, as opposed to fake news and ignorant and unscrupulous denialism (for the interests it protects). It has already become much more difficult not to recognize that navigating the ship carrying containers for Sustainable Development requires, every day, the compass of scientific knowledge, which politics on the one hand, and individual lifestyles on the other, must then decline.
2025 was the year in which, by a singular coincidence, we celebrated the decade of Pope Francis's encyclical "Laudato Si'," the adoption of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Paris Agreement to stem the climate crisis. Three extraordinary documents that, synchronously, charted the course. Along which we must navigate, never lowering the flag of optimism and willpower.
The greatest damage to sustainability comes from its forgers, from the cheats who rig the deck and defend only their own, almost never transparent, interests under the guise of false green. Characters, stories, and accounts of false sustainability in Italy and around the world can be found in this book.
Read also:
- How to communicate sustainability
- Most sought-after green jobs in Italy
- How art can bring people closer to sustainability
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