The six legs of ENI inside the world of Italian culture

Crotone, Gela, Livorno, Pavia, Potenza, Ravenna, Taranto, Venice.When it comes to the world of Italian culture, the energy giant ENI has its legs almost everywhere.This is highlighted recently relationship of the Association South drawn up in collaboration with the Environmental Conflict Documentation Centre.The dossier delves into the link between ENI and culture, observing the initiatives promoted by the group, and exploring «the strategies of “cultural washing"implemented by the company";in short, it intends to reveal the ways in which ENI would exploit its cultural projects (ranging from the sponsorship of Serie A, to that of local festivals or symbolic anniversaries such as World Children's Day) to improve its public image and divert attention from its controversial and ethically questionable practices in the exploitation of oil and gas.«ENI's operation is a sophisticated form of mass distraction», denounces the report:it "aims to divert attention from the serious environmental responsibilities of the company", and "attempts to build an image of closeness to local communities" through the promotion of "narratives of sustainability and support for the artistic beauty" of the Bel Paese.Yet, "this vision hides atoxic legacy left in many Italian territories».

The report of South and CDCA was published on Friday 16 September and is part of the ENI Observatory campaign and its Sustainable Culture program South.The «grandiose work of cognitive distraction» set up by ENI would serve to «remove from the general public the idea that the company still has anything to do with the oil world, bring its image closer to a sustainable future, renewable, generously close to local communities and promoter of the artistic and landscape beauties of Italy".In addition to cleaning up its image, the ultimate aim of ENI's initiatives would be to convince the general public «that a green world is only possible if we leave it to the big economic players, the same ones who have given us a seriously compromised future", and to divert attention from the company's speculative and unsustainable practices.A fundamental role in this operation would be played by Enrico Mattei Foundation.It defines itself as an «international non-profit research center, aimed at high-quality, innovative, interdisciplinary and scientifically rigorous research in the field of sustainable development».Among its purposes there would also be that of «studying issues of particular interest to the ENI Group», to guide company policies.However, according to the report, it would seem «that its role is to confirm management choices, providing them with an aura of scientific objectivity».

The accusation launched by South and CDCA, in short, is that ENI exploits the research of the Mattei Foundation, surrounded by an aura of presumed scientificity, to guide people to opt for solutions useful to the company.Although the Director of the Foundation, Alessio Lanza, has openly maintained that «the group's research they are not commissioned by ENI and ENI does not ask the Foundation for specific research», the hypotheses of South and CDCA do not seem to have difficulty finding confirmation:this is the case of the promotion of research that ends up suggesting focusing on biofuels, «coincidentally one of the areas on which ENI focuses most for the decarbonisation of transport", or of the conflict of Lanza's own words with those pronounced by ENI, which he had previously communicated to South and CDCA that the company can ask the Foundation for research on specific topics, contrary to what the Director stated.Another area of ​​the world of culture and research in which ENI invests particularly is the university one.Also Greenpeace, in a relationship of 2023, had spoken of "ENI's six legs on schools and universities".The same dossier as South and CDCA points out how «in 2023 ENI directly financed state universities with a contribution of approximately 10 million euros», which is accompanied by a «much clearer» presence through approximately 150 exchange projects with universities, including degree courses and research doctorates.ENI also has another 23 active projects with CNR and ENEA, the two largest public research bodies.

Last, but not least are all the direct "cultural washing" projects in close contact with the territory that the six-legged dog would promote in Italy, which intersect with initiatives in the world of universities and research.The report identifies eight, which affect provinces and municipalities from the north to the south of the country.One of the most paradigmatic cases is that of Frost, where ENI, following the closure of the refinery in 2014, started a project to relaunch the area with «an approach that has little of the cultural and a lot of the tourist».All this would be promoted to hide those "never healed wounds" that the company's exploitation would have inflicted on the territory, from "pollution of water, land and air" to "the impact on health".Like Gela, a Porto Marghera, Venice, where ENI participates in the plan to "make Venice the world capital of sustainability" by hiding the intention to build a civil sewage sludge incinerator near the Southern industrial canal.In addition to Gela and Venice, Crotone, Livorno, Ravenna, Taranto, and the municipalities of Viggiano and Sannazzaro are also home to similar projects.ENI, after all, is no stranger to unethical land exploitation plans.This is the case, which recently emerged, of exploitation of Palestinian territorial waters, for which the Italian energy giant received exploration permission from the Israeli government itself.

[by Dario Lucisano]