NetZero Milan is an event fair aimed at creating a meeting point between policies and entrepreneurs for promoting energy transition and industrial growth. The 2026 edition was inaugurated by a video contribution from Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Italy's Environment and Energy Safety Minister, who emphasized the importance of building an energy transition and environmental transformation that can be a driver of development and growth, given that digital transformation will give a new form to economy and society. For the minister, indeed, independence in energy sources, electrification, and green technologies should lead States into a new phase of Europe's history.

Carlo Bonomi, president of Fiera Milano, recalled that a smooth transition requires an industrial policy capable of holding together energy, innovation, infrastructure, and investments. It is within this framework that NetZero Milan stands out: 'We chose to focus on the relationship between energy transition and industrial competitiveness, creating a meeting point between institutions and enterprises. Our goal is to gradually make NetZero Milan a stable rendezvous for issues related to energy and competitiveness.'

At the opening ceremony of the fair, he also spoke up, among others, Paolo Gentiloni, president of the European Investment Bank's Global Advisory Council, who emphasized the important commitment of Europe in the climate transition. According to Gentiloni, various packages of measures such as Next Generation Europe investments, which for a third part are dedicated to transitioning, testify to this. For Italy, in particular, it concerns about 70-80 billion euros.

Gentiloni then recalled how Europe is today, together with Japan, following a more coherent path of de-carbonization: indeed, it lives on Earth's sixth percent of its population and the EU's emissions amount to six percent.

At the same meeting, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Dean of IE University Madrid and President of the Institut Jacques Delors Paris, has recalled that completing the single market represents today a factor of security and an objective for reducing the EU's energy dependence.

Letta has cited several community initiatives such as the Horizon Europe program, which received significant support from the EU to promote research and scientific development in the fields of electrification and green technology.

Minister for Environment and Energy Gilberto Pichetto Fratin recalled that today there is a need to build an energy transition and environmental transformation capable of becoming a driver of growth and development, in a context where digital transition will give a new form to economy and society. For the minister, independence in energy, electrification, and green technologies should guide States in a new phase of European history.