ROME (AP) — Italy’s highest court has ruled that a lawsuit brought by climate activists against Italian energy company Eni and its government shareholders can go ahead, in what Greenpeace said on Tuesday was a victory for efforts to pursue climate justice in Italy.
In an ordinance released on Monday, the Court of Cassation rejected the company’s motions to dismiss the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds and ordered the case to be heard on its merits by a Rome tribunal.
Eni said that it was greatly satisfied with the decision, and said it expected that the Rome court would ultimately “dismantle” the climate activists’ claims of responsibility.
In 2023, Greenpeace, environmental group ReCommon and a dozen Italian citizens had sued Eni and its two main government shareholders — the Italian finance ministry and development bank — seeking damages for what they said were the effects of climate change.
The plaintiffs cited their fundamental rights enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, as well as Italy’s ratification of various international climate accords and Eni’s stated commitment to reaching climate reduction targets.
The energy company and the government sought to dismiss the suit on jurisdictional and other grounds, but the Cassation court ruled that the case could go ahead.
For more than a century, scientists have known that large quantities of greenhouse gases, released from the burning of fossil fuels, go up into the atmosphere and heat the planet, leading to higher temperatures, rising sea levels and extreme weather events that are both more frequent and more intense.
Around the world in recent years, individuals, climate activist groups and local governments have sued energy companies and governments to try to force them to take concrete action to curb greenhouse gas emissions and compensate for losses associated with climate change.
Greenpeace and ReCommon described the ruling “a landmark decision,” saying it would impact current and future climate-related litigation in Italy. They say it brings Italian courts in line with other European countries that have recognized the rights of people to try to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for global warming through lawsuits, and called the ruling itself one of the most significant in climate change litigation internationally.
“No one, not even a colossus like Eni, can escape its responsibilities anymore,” the groups said in a joint statement. “Judges will finally be able to examine the merits of our case: those who pollute and contribute to the climate crisis must answer for their actions.”
Eni said that it welcomed the ruling.
“The proceedings can finally resume before the Court of Rome, where the unfounded theories put forward by Greenpeace and ReCommon regarding the alleged responsibility of Eni for climate change-related damages will be dismantled, in a context that is rigorous and respectful of the law, rather than driven by the instrumental, unfounded, and often misleading slogans of the two associations,” the company said in a statement.
Italy’s finance ministry and the development bank, known as the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, declined to comment.
While the ruling doesn’t enter into the merits of the case, Greenpeace and Recommon highlighted the judges’ determination that Italian courts can have jurisdiction over claims about emissions by Eni subsidiaries in foreign countries, since in this case, harm allegedly occurred in Italy and decisions were made by the Italy-based parent company.
