Italy seeks friendship with Boga, the alliance to end fossil fuels
Environment — di Maurizio Bongioanni
At the last moment, Italy joins the Beyond oil and gas alliance (Boga). But its membership comes with no binding commitments.
Italy seeks friendship with Boga, the alliance to end fossil fuels
At the last moment, Italy joins the Beyond oil and gas alliance (Boga). But its membership comes with no binding commitments.
At the last moment, Italy too joins the Beyond oil and gas alliance (Boga), the alliance launched during Cop26 under way in Glasgow by the governments of Denmark and Costa Rica. An alliance created to commit member nations to pursuing a just transition by abandoning oil and gas production.
Until the eve of the press conference, Italy did not feature among Boga's members. Then, a few hours before the official presentation, Italy's minister for ecological transition Roberto Cingolani, speaking in an interview at the National Geographic Fest, announced the news that many had been hoping to hear.
Italy makes no commitment to concrete action
Dan Jørgensen, Denmark's minister for climate and co-promoter of the initiative, opened the official presentation of Boga in Glasgow by saying that "The goal is not small, the ambition is not modest, but we want this to be the beginning of the end of oil&gas. Because there is no future for fossil fuels in a 1.5-degree world."
Alongside founding members Denmark and Costa Rica, Boga is joined by:
- Core members: Sweden, France, Ireland, Québec (Canada), Greenland (Denmark) and Wales (United Kingdom)
- Associate members: New Zealand, Portugal and California (United States)
- Friend of Boga: Italy
In short, Italy opts for an entry that is, shall we say, less binding. Indeed, unlike those who commit to reforming the fossil fuel subsidy system (in the case of associate members) or to setting a date for ending the exploration and extraction of new oil and gas fields (in the case of core members), a friend of the alliance, as the Boga website states, commits in general terms to "working together to facilitate effective measures" in pursuit of the objectives of the agreement signed.
Meet the members of the #BeyondOilAndGasAlliance🌏. We are thrilled to announce the membership of Quebec, France🇫🇷, Sweden🇸🇪, Ireland🇮🇪, Wales🏴 & Greenland🇬🇱 as Core Members and California, Portugal🇵🇹 & New Zealand🇳🇿 as Associate Members and Italy🇮🇹 as Friends of #BOGA #COP26
So, while the first two tiers of membership require concrete actions to bring the fossil fuel era to an end, friend status entails no concrete steps whatsoever, beyond the intention to stay within the objective of limiting the rise in average global temperature to 1.5 degrees.
L’Italia aderisce al Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (#Boga). L’annuncio da Glasgow del ministro Cingolani “L’Italia è avanti e abbiamo le idee chiare: grande piano per le rinnovabili con 70mld di watt per i prossimi 9 anni per arrivare al 2030 con il 70% di energia elettrica pulita”
Gas as a vector of the transition
"The alliance proposed by Denmark and Costa Rica sets objectives that we are already working towards," Cingolani explained, commenting on why Italy joined as a friend. "We are well advanced on the coal phase-out (which is due to happen by 2025, editor's note) and we have the largest renewables programme on paper, namely 70 GW of wind and solar capacity over the next 9 years."
And further: "our goal is to reach 2030 generating electricity 70 per cent from renewable sources. Gas is the vector of the transition but will only be needed to provide continuity until we reach the target we have set ourselves." For Cingolani, then, we will phase out fossil gas as we progressively reach the 2030 milestone. "The point is that we are an 'energy-hungry' country: for smaller countries, which have a lower total energy requirement, the transition is simpler. We are talking about making a U-turn but we have different means: they have a moped, we have an articulated lorry. We all have to reach 2030 with the same goal — on that we agree — but for us it is a little more complicated."
NEW: Italy will join - as Friend - #BOGA, the Beyond Oil & Gas Allience to keep new O&G in the ground and set existing production on a Paris-aligned pathway. Next step: full Member in 2022. Great leadership by Minister Cingolani & 🇮🇹 delegation @MiTE_IT facebook.com/watch/live/?re…
Avoiding the 'blah blah blah'
"Joining the alliance as a friend of Boga does not mean making no commitments," adds Luca Bergamaschi, Italy's delegate at Cop26 and a member of Ecco, the climate change think tank present in Glasgow to support Italy's ambitions in terms of energy transition. "Italy is a trailblazer alongside other European countries, recognising the principle underpinning the alliance. Now it must pass a law regulating the use of fossil fuels and adopt a long-term government policy. The hope is that in 2022, at the next Cop, our country will be able to announce its entry into the alliance as a higher-tier member on the basis of commitments achieved in the field."
Among the concrete actions on the table, the question of drilling is certainly front and centre. If it is to be credible, Italy must demonstrate that it is pursuing its commitments on reducing fossil reserves. For instance, as the association Re:Common points out, it can withdraw the new licences in the northern Adriatic and ensure that Eni does not obtain further concessions in the Val d'Agri. If Italy does not put an end to fossil fuel extraction, it risks failing to honour all the commitments it has made on the energy transition. In short, Italy must do everything it can to avoid the proverbial 'blah blah blah'.