MILAN: Prime Minister Mario Draghi has put climate change at the heart of his plans to run Italy by creating a super ministry to ensure a transition to green energy drives recovery and makes full use of European Union funds.

“Ours will be an ecological government,” Draghi told his first cabinet meeting on Saturday.

Draghi’s first job will be to redraft Italy’s Recovery Plan, which must be handed to the European Commission by April to tap more than USD 240 billion of funds needed to revive the recession-hit economy.

The creation of the new ministry helped to win over Italy’s 5-Star Movement, which prides itself on its green credentials but had faced internal strife over the prospect of joining a cabinet containing its political foes. Under a European Union agreement, 37 percent of this money must be dedicated to the transition to a low carbon economy.

The former European Central Bank chief, who took office on Saturday as the head of a unity government created to steer Italy out of the coronavirus crisis and economic slump, has picked physicist Roberto Cingolani to head a new ecology transition ministry.

In his role, Cingolani will take over energy matters previously shared with other ministries and combine them with the environment portfolio.

Chief technology and innovation officer at Italian defense group Leonardo and a Ferrari board member, the 59-year-old has worked in top scientific research centers in Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, focusing on robotics, artificial Intelligence and “digital humanities.”

“Since the first round of consultations with the political parties, Draghi put the ecology transition at the top of his agenda,” said Vito Crimi, leader of the 5-Star.

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