Where does Italy stand on the energy transition?
Energy — di Andrea Barolini
Data from recent years points to a slowdown in Italy's energy transition. The risk is of missing the 2030 targets.
Where does Italy stand on the energy transition?
Data from recent years points to a slowdown in Italy's energy transition. The risk is of missing the 2030 targets.
- Numerous data points indicate that Italy's energy transition is slowing down.
- In 2023, clean energy sources covered 19.7 per cent of Italy's final energy consumption.
- The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan sets a target of reaching 39.4 per cent by 2030.
The energy transition in Italy has been losing momentum in recent years. After progressing at a reasonable pace up until the pandemic, data from Gse (Gestore Servizi Elettrici, the public company responsible for developing renewable energy sources and energy efficiency) for recent years looks decidedly less encouraging.
The target is 39.4 per cent of final consumption covered by renewables by 2030
The figures for 2023 show that the share of final energy consumption covered by clean sources (calculated according to European Union methodologies) stood at 19.7 per cent. That represents an increase of just half a percentage point compared to the 19.2 per cent recorded the previous year. When one considers that the target set by Italy in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan, submitted to the Brussels Commission in July of last year, is to reach 39.4 per cent by 2030, it becomes easy to see how the road ahead now looks decidedly uphill.
With regard specifically to electricity consumption, the figure recorded by Gse for 2023 shows that 38.1 per cent came from renewable sources. Here too, the increase compared to the previous year appears far too modest (just one percentage point): acceleration will be needed if the set target is to be met — namely 63.4 per cent by the end of the decade.
Likewise, in the transport sector, the share covered by wind, hydroelectric and solar power stood at 10.3 per cent in 2023 (+0.3 per cent compared to 2022). Italy's target for this sector is 34.2 per cent, again by 2030.
Legambiente: "Italy has failed, eight years of delay at risk"
The slowdown of recent years therefore risks jeopardising the end-of-decade target. It is no coincidence that, in the report "Scacco matto alle rinnovabili 2025", Legambiente stated that "Italy has failed to meet the 2030 renewable energy development target set by the 'Suitable Areas' decree: the country risks reaching 80,001 megawatts (MW) with eight years' delay — that is, in 2038".
This trend is all the more striking given the impacts that climate change is imposing on Italian territory, and which should be spurring policymakers to act: "We have recorded 2,098 extreme weather events from 2015 to the present, including 753 flood events and 522 incidents of damage from strong gusts and tornadoes, affecting 1,137 municipalities", the same environmental association notes. The report clarifies that "despite the partial, positive results of recent years — with 17,717 MW of renewables installed between 2021 and 2024 (an annual average of 4,429 MW) — Italy risks failing to meet its 2030 target".
Only 22 per cent of the energy transition work completed, five regions severely behind schedule
The data indeed shows that Italy has completed just 22 per cent of the total it committed to. More than 62,000 MW still need to be built in just six years. Geographically, the most lagging regions are Valle d'Aosta, Molise, Calabria, Sardegna and Umbria: at the current pace, they will need more than 20 years (in the case of Valle d'Aosta, the worst performer, as many as 45) to meet the targets set by the Suitable Areas decree.
In contrast, the only Italian region that — if it maintains the average of the past four years — will manage to reach its set target is Lazio, which stands at 40 per cent of the way there. Still behind, but by a more contained margin of "just" two years, are Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige.
Rinnovabili, oltre duemila progetti bloccati nei ministeri e Italia sempre più in ritardo: Lazio unica regione in regola con i tempi- classifica ilfattoquotidiano.it/2025/03/06/rin…
"Italy is culpably behind on its renewable energy development targets for 2030 – says Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente – The main non-technological obstacles are the slow authorisation processes, due to the ostracism of the Ministry of Culture and the inaction of the Regions, the wrong and ideologically driven ministerial decrees, and the short-sighted policies of the Meloni government, which does nothing but make the Peninsula even more dependent on gas speculators, while also banking on the return of nuclear power, an energy option defeated by the free market due to its exorbitant costs".
Italy risks missing its CO2 emissions reduction target too
The excessively slow pace of renewable energy development, and therefore of the energy transition, also has an impact on another figure: that of Italy's greenhouse gas emissions. According to data from the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra), relating to 2024 and published in the report "Greenhouse gas emissions in Italy: reduction targets and emissions scenarios", there is a concrete risk of missing the target set for 2030 — namely reducing total emissions by 43.7 per cent, in order to remain in line with the Paris Agreement and the European "Fit for 55" package.
#Emissioni di gas serra in Italia: luci e ombre nel Rapporto ISPRA 2025
#climate #globalwarming
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#climate #globalwarming
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Italian emissions, in fact, fell by only 26.4 per cent between 1990 and 2023. And the current target of -43.7 per cent must be calculated against the level recorded in 2005 (when a first decline had already taken place). In short, much more needs to be done if Italy is to be able to claim it has played its part in the global fight against climate change and its impacts.