While the summer of 2023 promises to beat even the record-breaking summer of 2022, this July's African temperatures are also reminding Italian cities how crucial it is to take countermeasures in the face of the climate crisis. It is precisely in Rome, a symbol of the record heat of these days, that an all-Italian project that wants to cool streets and buildings with urban gardens and rooftop gardens could be awarded.

'Green obsession' by archistar Stefano Boeri, is among the finalists (the only Italian project) of the Sdg Action Awards, the Oscars of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The project (actually, more of a design philosophy) by the architect behind the Bosco Verticale in Milan was selected from more than 5,000 entries from 190 countries covering the full range of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

"Green Obsession brings together 20 years of ideas and projects to bring living nature and especially trees and forests inside our cities. We need to bring trees and plants wherever we can: to squares, courtyards, avenues, rooftops and house facades. Indeed, the two great challenges of biodiversity and cohabitation between living species are at the heart of any project of ecological transition and climate change damage reduction. Green Obsession is therefore a work commitment and at the same time a sentiment that we would like to share with anyone who looks with courage and optimism at the future of our cities and our species on planet earth," Boeri declares.

The issue of greenery in cities becomes a priority as temperatures rise, but also in terms of pollution. Cities generate more than 70 percent of CO2 emissions, according to the U.N., which means that addressing the impact urban centers have on the climate is critical to achieving the U.N. 2030 Agenda.

In fact, forests absorb nearly 40 percent of the annual fossil fuel emissions produced each year, and adding new urban forests within cities would contain CO2, reduce pollution, save energy, and combat urban heat.

In Italy, there are 32.5 square meters of urban green space per inhabitant. In fact, urban and protected green areas in Italy's capital municipalities cover 3,841 square kilometers, 19.6 percent of the capitals' territory. What's more, not all green areas are open for the direct use of citizens: the proportion of those accessible is 19.5 square meters per inhabitant.

Compared to 2011, the area dedicated to urban forestry has been gradually increasing (+22.2 percent), with no major differences between metropolitan city capitals and provincial capitals. In the countryside, temperatures are up to 3 degrees lower, while even a large park can lower the heat level by 1 to 3 degrees compared to areas where there is no green shade; a 1,500-square-meter urban green area cools an average of 1.5 degrees and has positive effects tens of meters away.