ENI has announced that it intends to further increase oil drilling

The Italian multinational oil company ENI has announced its own industrial development plan for years to come.In particular, the six-legged dog plans to significantly increase the cash circulating in the company, up to 62 billion euros over the four-year plan.As a result, it also plans to increase its revenue even further.In all of this and in spite of the much vaunted energy transition, the central element will remain the exploration and production of fossil fuels.«Upstream production (the set of operational processes from which fossil production activity originates) – we read in the document – ​​is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 3-4% until 2027, extending this growth by a additional year compared to the previous Plan".In short, once again, an industrial strategy in stark contrast with the commitments made by Italy and by the state company itself for the containment of emissions, at least according to the logic, while ENI announces that, in any case, «the reduction objectives of emissions are confirmed."Although it is not known how they intend to comply with them by increasing drilling.

The oil multinational reiterates that all emissions reduction targets remain in force:« – 5% by 2030, – 80% by 2040 and zero emissions by 2050».How do they plan to do it?It is not specified, but everything leads us to think that we will proceed with greater determination towards the projects compensation and capture of carbon dioxide.Initiatives so dear to the fossil industry, as they are capable of generate new profits, but by effectiveness so controversial to be accused of being useful only to prolong the life of the fossil sector.For example, carbon capture and storage technologies are still largely in the prototype stage.This means that they are not available for large-scale commercial use.Supporters, however, believe that the spread of these technologies would allow an effective decarbonization of economic systems, while skeptics believe that excessive reliance on them is unwise and, above all, that it distracts us from the most important objective to reduce future emissions. In any case, according to the organizations Greenpeace Italia, ReCommon and Reclaim Finance, which have carried out an analysis of the six-legged dog's climate strategy, «ENI, between now and 2027, plans to increase the production of oil and gas and keep it constant until 2030.By doing so, its production will be 71% higher than in the net zero emissions scenario."

No one ever claimed that gas and oil production would stop overnight, but at the very least it was expected that the main players in the fossil industry would begin a real transition to energy models more consistent with the ecological crisis.However, this was not the case.Suffice it to say that clean energy activities still remain completely marginal for ENI:«for every euro invested by the company in fossil fuels – explained the environmentalists – less than seven cents have been invested in renewable energy."While, on the contrary, support for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has grown significantly, despite the fact that the European peak in demand for this fossil fuel is expected in 2025.Also in light of this inconsistency, ENI is currently required to answer for its decisions before the Italian justice system.The six-legged dog was in fact sued in court last May by 12 citizens and the organizations Greenpeace Italia and ReCommon.The accusations are based on "the damage caused and future deriving from climate change, to which the company has contributed with its conduct in recent decades, continuing to invest in fossil fuels".The objective of the organizations is to impose on ENI a profound review of its industrial strategy.The appellants thus hope to induce a concrete reduction in climate-changing emissions resulting from the activities of the fossil giant by at least 45% by 2030 and  compared to 2020 levels.The associations are confident that the evidence on the responsibility of fossil fuel companies in terms of climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions will help win the dispute.Many climate litigation lawyers, among other things, say the documents associated with the ENI case demonstrate that the company had a clear understanding of the risks posed by burning its hydrocarbons half a century ago.On the other hand, this would not be a shocking discovery given that, recently, it emerged in a certain way that the American multinational oil company Exxon knew about the harmful effects of oil extraction on the climate since the 1970s, but did everything to keep them hidden.

[by Simone Valeri]