ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the essence and the evolution of Italian climate change policy in a response to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The dynamics of this change cover domestic environmental policy within a variety of national politics and policies. The Italian political culture exhibits a few peculiarities that have become well known inside and outside of Italy. Italy has a track record of implementation failure, and while the effects of non-success are generally known, many of the underlying causes have to be identified. In reconstructing the history of climate policy in Italy, it is necessary to keep in mind the novelty of climate change as an issue. Much of its policy is in the process of clarification. Some Italian experts even have a problem defining environmental policy as ‘policy’ intended in its full meaning. Since the mid-1960s the translation of environmental issues into policy has been gradual in Italy.
