Italian government considering support for international fossil fuel projects that would emit 3.5 times Italy’s annual emissions, despite major climate promise
New Briefing: Despite pledging to stop international financing for fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022, the Italian Government is continuing to actively consider financing for major international fossil fuel projects that could emit greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to at least 3.5 times Italy’s annual emissions.
November 2022
Despite pledging to stop international financing for fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022, new analysis by Oil Change International shows that the Italian Government is continuing to actively consider financing for major international fossil fuel projects.
Taken together, these fossil fuel projects in could emit or enable greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to at least 3.5 times Italy’s annual emissions.
The Italian government export credit agency, Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero (SACE), is one of the world’s largest public financiers of fossil fuels. In the period 2019-2021, Italy provided USD 2.8 billion a year in public finance for fossil fuels, almost entirely via SACE. This makes Italy the sixth-largest public financier for international fossil fuel projects in the world, larger than Saudi Arabia or Russia and behind only Japan, Canada, Korea, China and the United States.
At the COP26 United Nations climate conference in Glasgow in 2021, 39 countries and financial institutions, including Italy, signed the Glasgow Statement, which commits signatories to “end new direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022, except in limited and clearly defined circumstances that are consistent with a 1.5°C warming limit and the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
By considering support for these projects, the Italian Government is failing to act on climate science, failing to align with the Paris Agreement and looks set to break the promise it made in Glasgow.
The Italian Government must drop these projects and align with other governments – including the UK, France, Denmark, Sweden and Finland – who have published new policies to respond to this pledge, ending public finance for almost all fossil fuel projects in time for the end-of-2022 deadline.