Italy

21ST CENTURY ITALY is a modern, industrialized nation with the seventh highest Gross Domestic Product in the world. Like other developed countries, Italy must struggle with high consumption of resources and the environmental effects of that consumption. The leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions in Italy are road transport and fossil-fuel burning energy production. Water pollution and desertification are environmental problems. Italy has been slow to confront these problems, but, beginning in 2006, has been able to see some positive outcomes as a result of new technologies and environmental policy changes.

Italy has the third highest rate of private car ownership in the world, and the low percentage of unleaded gasoline sold, a mere 18 percent, intensifies the emissions problem, as do the popular motor scooters. ...