The movement, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, will see marches taking place across Italy from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm in the city centres, with concluding speeches scheduled from 173 local activists.
Italian Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sent a notice to public school principals, encouraging them to excuse students who may be absent due to participation in the climate strike.
The demonstrations wrap up the worldwide Week for Future initiative that began last Friday, which kicked off strikes in 130 countries overall, involving four million people of which approximately 300,000 were Australians who rallied across the country.
Italian Environment Minister Sergio Costa said on Thursday that the government is set to approve a decree of measures designed to tackle the climate crisis.
The measures include provisions for the establishment of reduced-emissions school buses, an incentive to scrap cars that are ranked of a class inferior to four, progressive cuts of polluting subsidies, steps for improving air quality, development of national parks and discounts on plastic-free products.
“By now, everyone has recognised that there is a climate emergency,” Costa said.
“If there’s a climate emergency, there's a legislative emergency too.
“With a bit of luck, we’ll get [the decree approval] done on October 3.”
