Climate obstruction in Italy: From outright denial to widespread climate delay

This chapter investigates climate obstruction in Italy since the 1990s. While the country’s institutional actors were initially indifferent to climate change, non-institutional obstruction disputed both its existence and its anthropogenic origin. More sophisticated forms of denial later developed into outright obstruction. Today, the most prominent climate obstructionists are part of a right-wing galaxy backed by Italian oil and gas companies, their lobby groups, and corporate and institutional allies, aided significantly by the Italian media. These actors have adopted multiple strategies and tactics to obstruct climate action, from anti-scientific and conspiracy narratives to scare tactics such as weaponizing energy insecurity to blatant misinformation campaigns. The discursive framings of climate obstruction evolved from trumpeting cherry-picked climate scenarios instrumental in defending inaction to discourses of delay, including technological optimism, fossil fuel solutionism, and redirecting responsibility from industry and institutional agents to consumers and individuals, as well as greenwashing tactics.