Dispatch from Italy | July '25
*** Get a bird's-eye view of Italy’s climate-friendly transition in the CLEW Guide – Italy moves on green transition, but fossil fuel ties remain tight***
Stories to watch in the weeks ahead
- Climate struggles: Heatwaves have severely affected Italy and are alternating with other extreme weather events. A flood in Bardonecchia, in the Piemonte region, killed two people, and a severe downburst in Milan caused another fatality. Heat is becoming a serious issue for the Italian economy: several factory workers went on strike as temperatures became unbearable. Trade unions have secured guarantees that workers can rest at times of extreme heat.
- Missing adaptation: Climate change is coming back into the public debate. Italy's president, Sergio Mattarella, urged Parliament to do more to prevent the worst consequences, during a meeting with the national association of insurance companies. One of the opposition leaders, Angelo Bonelli of the Green Party, remarked that Italy approved its national climate adaptation plan in 2023, but has yet to fund or implement it: a technical secretariat and data monitoring observatory are still missing.
- Renewables' future – ports and courts: Two major ports in southern Italy, Taranto and Augusta, will become hubs for offshore wind power development. Both port cities have struggled with industrial decline and unemployment for years. Government investment will amount to over 78 million euros. Meanwhile, the conflict between the Sardinia region and the renewable energy sector is heading to the Constitutional Court. The centre-left regional government, which came to power in 2024, de facto banned all new renewable energy installations by declaring almost the entire territory "unsuitable". A local court ruled the decision unlawful, and the case will now go to Italy's top court. Its outcome will be crucial for the energy transition, as Sardinia is not the only region that has obstructed the development of renewables.
- Digging again: For the first time in 30 years, Italy has launched a new mining exploration plan for critical minerals needed for energy transition technologies. The project spans half of Italy’s territory, from north to south, and will cost 3.5 million euros and involve 400 experts. In particular, the Italian government hopes to discover new deposits of lithium, graphite, copper, manganese, and rare earth elements, aided by innovative technologies such as muon radiography and artificial intelligence, which would scan the ground and minimise the impact of exploration. The decline of Italy’s mining industry began in the 1970s, with the last major mine closing in 1982.
The latest from Italy – last month in recap
The latest from Italy – last month in recap
- A blast in Rome: On the morning of 4 July, a loud explosion was heard across several neighbourhoods in Rome as a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) station exploded in the Prenestino district, in the eastern part of the city. The incident occurred during a fuel delivery operation. There were two explosions: the second was stronger than the first. Fifty people were injured, two of them seriously. The accident has sparked a debate about how safe it is to have fossil fuel infrastructure in densely populated urban neighbourhoods.
- Hydrogen and Italian tech neutrality: In Carugate, near Milan, a hydrogen refuelling station for vehicles has opened. It is primarily aimed to serve heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks and buses. According to estimates by the Italian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association H2IT, by 2050 there could be 20,000 hydrogen-powered buses and 50,000 hydrogen trucks in Italy. The project aligns with the government's vision of technological neutrality: not favouring EVs but allowing all technologies to compete. The environmental group Ci sarà un bel clima pointed out that in recent years fewer than twenty hydrogen cars have been registered in Italy. However, Milan is expected to have 500 hydrogen buses by 2026.
- Lack of funding slowing Italian cleantech: Investments in cleantech in Italy declined by nearly a third in 2024, according to the latest briefing from Cleantech for Italy. Investments went from 339 million euros in 2023 to 230 million last year. The sharpest decline occurred in the energy sector, where funding fell from 148 million euros to 22.6 million. According to the association, Italy struggles to support its cleantech start-ups and scale-ups despite a strong research and industrial base.
- An open letter from pro-transition businesses: Dozens of Italian companies from across multiple sectors have called on the European Commission to uphold its climate obligations for businesses. In an open letter, they wrote: "It is an act of responsibility towards future generations and the stability of our livelihoods. We trust in your commitment to keep Europe on the path of climate ambition and to support the real transformation of the European economy, for the benefit of all". Their message counters the narrative of Italy’s main business association, Confindustria, which has appealed to slow and even stop the EU’s Green New Deal.
Ferdinando’s picks - Highlights from upcoming events and top reads
Ferdinando’s picks - Highlights from upcoming events and top reads
- The optimistic take: Gianluca Ruggieri has published a long-awaited book on the energy transition, Le energie del mondo (The energy of the world). Ruggieri is one of Italy’s most respected communicators on energy issues — and also one of the most optimistic voices when it comes to the country’s ability to carry out a successful transition. Reading him feels like a breath of fresh air.
- Are we losing the Green Deal? Much less optimistic is Stefano Feltri, one of Italy’s leading economic journalists. In an episode of his podcast Revolution, he argues that the dismantling of the Green Deal is already underway — even though this shift has never been communicated to voters. According to Feltri, the Meloni government shows no real attention to climate issues, and her party works in Europe to weaken all climate-related policies. The rollback, he says, is not due to a change in public opinion, but to economic interests and pressure from powerful lobbies.
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