Belluno, when climate revisionism arrives in schools

A book on climate change, published by the right-wing-led City of Belluno and distributed free in high school classes across the city, claims that rising temperatures are part of natural climate cycles and not caused by human emissions. This argument has triggered a response from the Geosciences and Tesaf departments at the University of Padua, which expressed strong concern and stated that such claims contradict scientific understanding of the climate system.

The right-wing city hall’s anti-scientific indoctrination

The Belluno case concerns the book “Climate Change: Scenarios, Challenges, Solutions,” published by the municipality and adopted as a textbook for local high schools. Belluno is governed by an FDI-Lega coalition led by Mayor Oscar De Pellegrino, who won office on a civic list. Special attention has been paid to the contribution to the book by Giorgio Giacchetti, president of the Veneto Geologists’ Association.

Giacchetti claims that the observed rise in temperatures falls within natural climate cycles and is not caused by human emissions. According to articles published yesterday by Il Resto del Carlino and La Stampa, the phenomenon is also attributed to cycles of astronomical origin. Unfortunately, this contradicts scientific evidence accepted by 99% of the scientific community, as well as the conclusions of all recent reports from the UN’s climate body, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

The IPCC leaves little room for ambiguity.

The IPCC’s climate report states that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces since the pre-industrial era. The IPCC also attributes the observed global warming to human activities, primarily through greenhouse gas emissions. It is not a matter of choosing between the “anthropogenic theory” and the “natural cycles theory” as if they were two equal sides in a television debate.

Natural climate cycles do exist, and science has been studying them for decades. The key is to determine which combination of factors explains the warming observed today. And it is precisely here that the available evidence leads to a very clear conclusion: human activities play a decisive role.

The increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases is also well-documented. The IPCC finds that the rise in CO₂, methane, and nitrous oxide during the industrial era can be attributed to human activities based on various lines of evidence, including isotopic data and emission inventories.

And the wrong message is being sent in schools

This is the most delicate aspect of the matter. In our view, a municipality can organize a conference, publish a book, and accommodate minority opinions. But when that material is distributed to students, the responsibility changes.

University of Padua emphasized exactly this point by expressing “strong concern.” It’s not about censoring dissent. It’s about scientific literacy. If a minority theory is presented to students as an alternative explanation for current global warming without clarifying its relationship with established scientific evidence, the risk is turning pluralism into a false equivalence.

The paradox lies in discussing climate change right here in Belluno

In addition to protests from academia, there were also protests from the Network of Secondary School Students, Legambiente Veneto, and several representatives of the PD in the Veneto Regional Council, which funded the publication with 29,500 euros in regional funds originally allocated to the municipality of Belluno for a publication on restoration and reconstruction efforts carried out after various disasters, including the Vaia storm.

Paradoxically, this is one of the most classic and frequently cited examples of climate change caused by human activities. After all, the Alpine region is directly affected by global warming: glaciers, snow, water availability, land instability, and land management are all issues that directly impact mountain communities.

Carlo Barbante, one of Italy’s most authoritative climatologists and president of the International Center for Study and Research on Climate Change, wrote an open letter to Mayor Oscar De Pellegrin and the Veneto region, asking them to suspend the distribution of the book. In a statement, Cnr cited IPCC reports that identify human activities, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, as the “dominant cause of global warming.”

Parliamentary inquiry: not pluralism but confusion

The Belluno case has now reached Parliament as well thanks to a question submitted by deputies from the Green Left Alliance (AVS), particularly Elisabetta Piccolotti (Culture Committee in the Chamber) and Angelo Bonelli. They ask Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara who sets the scientific standards for educational materials produced or funded by public institutions. “Schools teach science, not its denial,” writes one of the signatories, Elisabetta Piccolotti. In short, what exists here is not pluralism but confusion.

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