ROME — Italy has emancipated itself from Russian natural gas and would have no problem with a proposed package of EU sanctions on liquified natural gas (LNG) that the European Commission is considering, Italian Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said.
“Italy is right now in a condition to even do without Russian gas altogether,” Pichetto Fratin told POLITICO on Friday as he prepared to host climate talks by G7 ministers in Turin starting this weekend.
Italy was one of the countries most dependent on Russian gas at the time of Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But it has been remarkably nimble at diversifying supply, with a pipeline from Algeria and an increased ability to import LNG. Shipments from Russia made up less than 5 percent of Italy’s overall gas imports last year, down from 43 percent in 2020, according to official figures.
“We have diversified; we have various sources and we have the regasification terminals, so we have sufficient supply to be relaxed,” Pichetto Fratin said.
So Italy “has no reason to oppose a process of new sanctions” on Russian LNG, he said.
The EU has imposed 13 packages of measures against Moscow since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move against Ukraine, but the bloc has so far refrained from targeting Russia’s gas sector.
The G7 climate talks, which begin on Sunday, aim to make a breakthrough in identifying strategic sectors for the reduction of emissions and to earmark technologies that can provide sustainable energy for developing countries in order to meet net-zero goals. The key issues will be pollution, loss of biodiversity and climate change, Pichetto Fratin said, with a focus on collaboration with African countries. The Turin talks will be joined by delegates from Algeria, Kenya and the African Union.
With Italy leading the talks, the focus on Africa is not by chance. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has launched an investment plan for Africa aimed at making Italy an energy transit hub between Africa and Europe. The plan also seeks to boost local economies to fight poverty, climate change and other root causes of immigration from Africa to Europe.
Major investments are needed to implement the transition to net-zero commitments in developing countries, which were agreed on at the COP28 climate talks. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday that trillions of dollars need to be mobilized in international finance for developing countries.
This G7 will need to look for innovative models to accelerate investments, including private-public partnerships, Pichetto Fratin said. “We certainly need to revise the financial system, to find mechanisms that overcome the current voluntary system,” he said.
While Italy, which currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, is in a leadership position at this weekend’s climate talks, the Meloni government is developing a record in Europe of digging its heels in on climate issues. Since Meloni came to power, Italy has repeatedly voted against or abstained on votes on environmental issues in the EU, such as packaging rules and phasing out combustion engines by 2035.
Environmental groups say the government is not interested in climate change, despite a spate of extreme weather events in Italy over the past few years including droughts and the collapse of a glacier. Meloni last year blamed catastrophic floods in the Emilia Romagna region on bad weather.
Pichetto Fratin denied that the Meloni government is not prioritizing climate change, arguing that the government’s target is to generate nearly two-thirds of its electricity from renewable energy sources by the end of the decade. “It’s not true that we are against everything,” he said.
The phase-out of combustion-engine cars by 2035 is shortsighted because of the likely advances in clean fuels such as hydrogen or biofuel, which would mean that electric was not the only clean option, he argued. “What I do not agree with is that the Commission political powers decide what are the limits of technological research,” he said.
As evidence that the Italian government is serious about tackling climate change, Pichetto Fratin said that Italy would beat other countries to close its coal-fired power plants. “We are ready to close our coal plants, completely, very shortly, the biggest source of emissions,” he said.
“We are ready. The question is: Is everyone else ready?” Pichetto Fratin said. The plants would be closed in 2025 at the latest, he said. Coal plants would have been closed last year but for the Ukraine war and the conflict in the Middle East, he said.
Following the EU election in June, which looks likely to give nationalist right-wing parties more sway in Europe, a new Commission in Brussels can expect to see further pushback on the Green Deal, spearheaded by Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Pichetto Fratin admitted.
Italy does not question the objectives of the deal, but requests “balance and moderation,” he said, arguing that “the way of reaching the objectives needs to be made compatible with countries’ national concerns. If on some processes, some directives, we have been opposed, it’s because it’s not doable or realistic,” he said.
“We need to distinguish between what’s possible and the rest.”
