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Tackling Environmental Crime throUgh standardized Methodologies

respected the objectives of Kyoto, they accomplished them ahead of schedule.
I believe we need to do much more about the environment. We need to

repair much of the damage left to us by the twentieth century economy, for exam-
ple the hydro-geological imbalance, the reclamation of territory, purification etc.
But we must also be proud of what we have achieved. I feel proud when I think
of the results we have obtained in the field of alternative energy. The absolutely
remarkable levels we have reached place us among the leading countries of
Europe and of the world. Need we do more? Of course. Perhaps changing the
system; perhaps the incentive system is no longer the right approach and maybe
the system of competition could give better results in the future. We have achieved
a lot and now we must renew our approach to achieve even more in the future.

The Paris agreement confronts us with both a great opportunity and great
challenges in the field of law. We know that the problem of legitimacy in the
environmental field has assumed worrying proportions. You know this better
than I do. You know that there has been dangerous infiltration in all areas regar-
ding the environment from the world of organized crime. We need only think
of waste disposal, landfills and renewable energy. This is quite normal as when
criminal groups see an opportunity to make money they do not hesitate.
Paradoxically, they have understood today (not before us but with us) where
money is to be made in the future, that it will be in the environment. So they
are organizing their entrance into the most profitable sectors. Therefore we
must organize ourselves to make the system competitive, to make the environ-
mental system more competitive with the new circular economy replacing the
linear model. We must have the highest levels of legality in order to take up this
challenge in the best way possible.

We need to act in such a way to prevent that the environmental sector, a
driving force for future economies on an international level, becomes less com-
petitive because of infiltration by criminal groups that make it inaccessible to
honest businessmen. Therefore we must increase legal controls in the sector of
the environment. I must say that, thanks to the Carabinieri and thanks to NOE,
much has been done in recent years. Before the great innovations that lie ahead,
I believe that the response in the form of the new organization of environmen-
tal departments of the Carabinieri is a good one.

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