Natalini leaves Nunes’ climate secretariat after 4 months – 01/05/2024 – Environment

The executive secretary of Climate Change for the city of São Paulo, Gilberto Natalini, will leave his position four months after taking office. He was chosen by Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) in July last year, after the departure of Antonio Fernando Pinheiro Pedro.

The former executive secretary was dismissed after saying that the planet “will save itself” from global warming and criticizing the scientific consensus on the topic.

According to Natalini, the decision was motivated by a personal issue, agreed with Nunes, who accepted the request. He stated to Sheet who leaves calmly and who did what he could at the head of the department, linked to the Municipal Government Secretariat.

He, who has a degree in medicine, says he accepted a job opportunity that deals with sustainability and health care. “It’s what I’ve always liked to do, connecting a healthy environment and human health.”

Talks about leaving, according to Natalini, had been going on for a few days and reached a conclusion this Thursday (4). “It’s an absolutely personal and professional decision.”

Although “upset”, the mayor agreed to the request due to the good relationship between the two, according to the former councilor.

In the City Council for five terms and former municipal secretary of Verde, Natalini is a historically respected leader among environmentalists.

The current executive secretary did not comment on names for succession and said that the prerogative belongs to the mayor.

As anticipated by Sheetthe former state secretary of Education José Renato Nalini, who also presided over the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo, will take over the position.

For Natalini, his predecessor, Pinheiro Pedro, made an effort to get things moving in the executive secretariat. He also praised the team, “small, but very strong.”

“We have 18 employees, to give you an idea, and a practically non-existent budget. It is an executive secretariat of the Government Secretariat. But we have always had support from Secretary Edson Aparecido. The support we asked for was never denied.”

In a brief review, the former councilor highlighted as achievements the purchase of electric buses for the municipal fleet, the forwarding of a decree that obliges the city’s own and outsourced vehicles to use only ethanol as fuel and the purchase of electricity for the municipal administration in the wind and photovoltaic market, which has not yet had an open tender.

Despite being a “half-secretary”, according to Natalini, the department was and will be able to monitor compliance with PlanClima SP, a document that defines actions to neutralize the emission of greenhouse gases in São Paulo.

He also says that his management accelerated the actions of the Integrated Water Defense Operation, which has the duty to monitor and protect areas considered strategic for the security of water supply in São Paulo, in conjunction with the Military Police, the Metropolitan Civil Guard and the municipal folder of subprefectures.

“From 2021 until July 2023, the operation carried out 60 protection actions in the watershed areas, which were not few. In the four months that we were there, there were 30. The number of protection actions was intensified”, says Natalini.

Another point coordinated by the department was the prevention and assistance work provided for in the Summer Rain Preventive Plan. “In October 2023, it rained twice as much, in volume and intensity, as it rained in October 2022, and we had practically no rainstorm phenomena. disasters, floods and floods. It means the plan is working.”