16-18 October 2025 | Venice, Island of San Servolo
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The CMCC will take part in the Fourth Edition of the Dolomite Conference on Global Governance of Climate Change and Sustainability, organized by Vision Think Tank in collaboration with leading institutions such as Fondazione Venezia per la Sostenibilità, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Bocconi University, LUISS Guido Carli, Ca’ Foscari University, and Politecnico di Milano, among others.
The conference provides a high-level platform to advance the global debate on climate change, fostering pragmatic, inclusive, and innovative solutions that go beyond abstract or ideological approaches. In today’s complex international context, marked by geopolitical tensions and systemic challenges, the Venice Conference positions itself as a laboratory of ideas contributing to the global agenda leading up to COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
Over three days, the program will feature plenary sessions, thematic workshops, and high-level debates on sustainability metrics, global trade, energy transition, artificial intelligence, and the future of urban and global systems. Outcomes from the working groups will be consolidated into the Venice Manifesto, a policy-oriented document addressed to European and international institutions.
CMCC’s participation
16 October, h. 16.45 – 18.15
Cities Retrofitting: Tools for Engaging People so to Improve Efficiency
As momentum around the Green Agenda diminishes, it is urgent to restore both public and institutional commitment to sustainability. In recent years, several socio-political factors, economic crisis, political polarization, and regional conflicts have significantly contributed to reduce enthusiasm for sustainable initiatives.
To fight this trend, it is crucial to explore the psychological and behavioral levers that shape public perception of sustainability. Through well-designed incentives and strategic public engagement, these perceptions can be realigned. A comprehensive incentive framework must include both financial tools, such as tax breaks, subsidies for building retrofits, and non-financial motivators, like community recognition programs that reward environmentally responsible behaviour.
Taking old building renovation as a case study, we can see how these strategies work in practice. For example, more than 90% of the venues for the Paris Olympics were renovated from existing buildings. In the context of “Olympics,” the world event reflecting the power of a country, people will be more likely to accept the lower-cost renovation of old buildings compared to the construction of new buildings.
This session, developed in collaboration with partners such as JLL or Schneider Electric, offers a practical framework for cities to retrofit their built environment while actively engaging communities in the transition.
By connecting technical innovation with social behaviour, we strive to create scalable models for urban sustainability.
Introduction by: Enrica De Cian (Professor at Ca’ Foscari and Senior Scientist CMCC and IUAV) and Luca Velo (IUAV)
Amongst the discussants of the PSSG paper: Frans Anton Vermast (Strategy Advisor and International Smart City Ambassador for Amsterdam Smart City), Thibault Muzergues (Political Director at Shared Ground), Mônica Sodré (Executive Director of Meridiana, Senior Fellow at CEBRI), Anna Marucci (Head of debt at Euronext), Rocco Steffenoni (Head of Local Energy Infrastructure – Engie), Jesse Scott (senior Fellow at the European University Institute at the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, Adjunct Professor at the Hertie School in Berlin), Cristian Matti (Sustainability and innovation policy expert at European Commission Joint Research Centre)
Chair: Andrea Gori (Illuminem)
Rapporteurs from CA FOSCARI/ IUAV: Victoire Ambeza, Giada Bastanzi, Giulio Bettio, Chiara Bidoli, Lorenzo Campus, Garima Jasuja, Anna Pistorio, Andrea Baschiera
16 October, h. 15.30 – 16.30
A feedback to vision concept paper
Introduction by: Francesco Grillo (Vision Think Tank Director, Professor at Bocconi and Senior Fellow at EUI)
Discussants: Rohinton P. Medora (Professor of Practice, McGill University, Founder of Digital Transformations for Health Lab and Distinguished fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation), Cliff Prior (CEO at Global Steering Group for Impact Investment), Carlo Carraro (CMCC Founding Fellow, Professor and Former Rector at Ca’ Foscari and Ex Vice-president Working Group III IPCC), Enrico Giovannini (Full professor of economic statistics at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Director of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, Italy’s former Minister for Infrastructure), Izabella Teixeira (Member of the International Advisory Board at the Brazilian Center of International Relations (CEBRI) and Former Brazilian Minister of Environment)
Chair: Olivier Morton (Briefing Editors at The Economist)
17 October, h. 16.50 – 17.50
Ai as a game changer: How to maximize support to climate change policies design and reduce emissions
In partnership with CMCC
The Artificial Intelligence revolution represents a transformative shift which offers unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the world as we know it.
On the bright side, Artificial intelligence’s potential to revolutionize climate science through improved forecast (especially in terms of higher granularity – so to understand where some extreme events are happening – and longer time frame – so to better prepare)23. Ai may also be very useful to exactly identify what kind of action – both mitigation and adaptation – may have be more efficient – in terms of better results vis-à- vis scarce resources. Yet, Large Language Models can be part of the problem: the first transformer of Generative Pre trained Transformer released by OpenAI in 2018 required about 5000 watts to be trained; the Llama 3.1 (meta) introduced in 2024, 26,5 million watts which can be translated into almost 10.000 tons of CO2. And yet the training of DeepSeek appears to be equivalent to the GPT 3.5 that kicked off the LLM era in November 2022.
How do we maximize the benefits of the artificial intelligence revolution whilst limiting its impact on energy? Which are the benchmarks and potential breakthroughs? Can the paradigm of models seeking for specialized, highly trustable information (like the one we would need for climate change) be the answer? What can regulators do to unlock innovation and use it as a lever to “save the world”?
Introduction: Giulio Boccaletti (Scientific Director of CMCC and Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University,) and Josh Parker (Head of Sustainability, NVIDIA)
Discussants: Alexandra Sasha Luccioni Vorobyova (Hugging Face); Savinien Caracostea (Co-founder & Creative Director – META Foundation), Chaitanya Giri (Fellow at ORF’s Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology, Mumbai), Bernardino Sassoli de Bianchi (UNIMI), Laura Cozzi (IEA Director of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks in 2023), Andrew Wickoff (EUI, Former Director of the Directorate for Science & Technology at OECD), Naren Barfield (Professor Emeritus, Royal College of Art, London)
Chair: Abdul Kareem Aouir (Senior Journalist in Al Jazeera Media Network)
17 October, h. 21.00
Book Presentation “Le grandi ipocrisie sul clima” – Winner of the Canova Prize for the Economy
Introduction by the authors: Roger Abravanel and Luca D’Agnese
Discussants: Rachel Dobbs (Environment Editor at The Economist) and Carlo Carraro (CMCC Founding Fellow, Rector Emeritus Ca Foscari) and Ferruccio Resta (President of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, and Centro Nazionale per la Mobilità Sostenibile MOST)
18 October, h. 09.00-9.15
Introduction to the final day and institutional greetings
Carlo Carraro (CMCC Founding Fellow, Professor and Former Rector at Ca’ Foscari and Ex Vice-president Working Group III IPCC), Alexandra Borchardt (Co-Director Climate Research Explorer Program at Constructive Institute and Senior Research Associate at Reuters Institute at Oxford University), Chen Zon (Vision Think Tank)