Italy is one of 50 countries attending the Fossil Fuel Transition Conference in Colombia.
"Thinking about the transition from fossil fuels and energy resilience, Italy needs to be embedded in a European pathway," said Francesco Corvaro, Italy's special envoy for climate change on the eve of the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels.
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The conference is being held from 24 to 29 April in the Colombian city of Santa Marta,
"We are facing giants: the United States, Russia, China, India. Not even Germany, which is one of the most economically powerful European countries, can have the strength alone to negotiate with them," Corvaro said on Thursday during a video conference organised with the media by ECCO, the Italian climate change think tank.
Italy's special envoy emphasised the importance of multilateralism linked to the energy and climate issue.
"We are a Europe that – if not out of ideals, but out of necessity – must realise it has no other choice in key sectors but to present a united front and promote common planning," Corvaro added, recalling that whatever the outcome of the conference, "the transition away from fossil fuels can at best be slowed down, but it cannot be stopped."
EU countries' national policies are misaligned
The shift away from fossil fuels is a central issue on the international agenda, in a context where the global energy crisis triggered in particular by the conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made clear the need for action on the economic dependence on fossil fuels.
However, within the EU, which remains highly dependent on imported fossil-fuels, the transition process is proceeding at different speeds in individual countries, and national plans appear misaligned.
"Europe's fragility on energy issues is evident, which makes it blackmailable in a global scenario where it appears disunited and thus lacks negotiating power," said Andrea Ghianda, ECCO's head of communications.
In the European scenario, Italy remains among the European countries most dependent on gas, which is almost entirely imported (5 per cent domestic production, 63 per cent pipeline gas, 32 per cent LNG).
Despite the commissioning of renewable energy, especially in the photovoltaic sector, and a 30 per cent reduction in emissions compared to 1990, recent public policies and strategies of the energy companies involved show, according to ECCO experts' analysis, that Italy is not moving towards a real transition, but rather is diversifying its gas suppliers.
The extension of the exit from coal-fired electricity, the measures to sterilise the ETS cost for gas and the temporary reduction of excise duties on fuels on the one hand, and the new agreements with Algeria to secure an alternative to Qatar gas on the other, seem to go in this direction.
What other EU countries are doing about energy transition
The strategy for France, which is focusing on nuclear power, is different. In the energy field, Paris plans to build at least six new EPR2 reactors by 2038 to ensure decarbonised electricity production in the long term, confirming France's desire to consolidate nuclear power as an energy pillar.
The plan was presented in March by President Emmanuel Macron, who outlined what he called a 'progressive implementation' of a French-led 'advanced nuclear deterrence strategy'.
At the European level, Spain stands as a leader in the energy transition. As of 2019, it has doubled wind and solar capacity thanks to a series of structural investments to reduce energy costs and dependence on fossil fuels, and has halved electricity prices compared to the European average.
The gap is evident when comparing the Spanish and Italian situations. According to an analysis by the energy think tank Ember, "Italy remains the most exposed country, with gas-fired power plants determining the cost of electricity 89 per cent of the time in 2026. In contrast, Spain has achieved structural decoupling, with gas influencing prices in only 15 per cent of hours thanks to the high penetration of renewables."
"Italy would like to follow a roadmap based on scientific evidence, starting with the most polluting sources," said Corvaro, commenting on Colombia's choice to invite Italy to the conference as a country that has shown itself keen to move towards an energy transition.
The objectives of the Santa Marta conference
Against a backdrop of misalignment on energy transition and global geopolitical instability, the Santa Marta conference aims to create a political space to establish coordinated national plans for exiting fossil fuels, distancing itself from the UN and the UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties (COPs).
Sponsored by Colombia and the Netherlands, the summit will be attended by more than 50 countries, as well as various representatives of civil society and the private sector, workers, and Indigenous peoples among others. The pillars around which the dialogue sessions will be developed are the economic dependence on fossil fuels, the transformation of energy supply and demand, and the need for cooperation and climate diplomacy.
The Brazilian presidency's proposal at COP30 in Belém to define an international roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels gave a significant boost to the issue, despite the fact that it ended in a climate of tension between the signatory countries and those who, on the contrary, opposed it out of economic interests.
The Santa Marta Conference will not end with the adoption of a negotiating document, but with the writing of a political-technical report that will gather priorities and policy options, contributing to the path towards the COP31 to be held in Antalya, Türkiye.
