On July 27, 2021, Italian NGOs — including Legambiente, LIPU-BirdLife Italy, WWF Italy, and Greenpeace Italy — challenged a ministerial decree authorizing the Teodorico gas field development, located off the Po Delta in the Adriatic Sea. The project, promoted by Po Valley Operations Pty Ltd, involved the installation of a platform and drilling operations adjacent to a newly designated marine site of Community importance, an area considered crucial for species such as the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) and the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The area also lies near the Po Delta, recognized in 2015 as a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. In a separate but connected proceeding, the Veneto Po Delta Regional Park Authority, the Province of Rovigo, and several municipalities also contested the decree.

The plaintiffs argued that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) was inadequate and failed to account for the establishment of the marine protected area, the potential harm to protected species and habitats, the risks of subsidence linked to gas extraction, and the impacts on local fisheries. They further claimed that the assessment omitted consideration of the project’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and its inconsistency with Italy’s climate objectives.

On November 27, 2024, the TAR Lazio annulled the ministerial authorization in both proceedings. The court found that the authorities had violated Article 5 of D.P.R. 357/1997 and Article 6 of the Habitats Directive by not conducting a proper “appropriate assessment” of the project’s effects on a proposed site of Community importance, despite the fact that the Italian government had already formally transmitted the site designation to the European Commission prior to issuing the authorization. EU and national law require such assessments to cover both formally designated sites and those proposed for designation. The court did not rule on the remaining claims, including those related to climate impacts, as the annulment on procedural and habitat protection grounds was sufficient to dispose of the case.

Legambiente et al. v. Ministry of Ecological Transition et al.; Veneto Po Delta Regional Park Authority et al. v. Ministry of Ecological Transition et al.

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Legambiente et al. v. Ministry of Ecological Transition et al.; Veneto Po Delta Regional Park Authority et al. v. Ministry of Ecological Transition et al. - press release

Filed

Italy

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Coastal zone and marine-related actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience to climate change

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

A potent, short-lived greehouse gas, largely released from livestock, fossil fuel extraction and waste management.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Geohazards are adverse geological phenomenon's that are capable of causing widespread damage or loss to property, life and the environment, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change can increase the frequency and severity of some geohazards, such as landslides, and soil erosion.

Legambiente et al. v. Ministry of Ecological Transition et al.; Veneto Po Delta Regional Park Authority et al. v. Ministry of Ecological Transition et al. - press release

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Adaptation/resilience

Finance