Eni is usually found among the world’s top dozen richest oil companies, with an estimated market capitalization of almost $49 billion and reported profit more than $14 billion in 2021. Two Italian advocacy groups – Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon – and 12 private Italians from areas affected by extreme weather are suing the company for allegedly lobbying and greenwashing to extend the runway for fossil fuels despite knowing the link between their products and the climate crisis.
A recently unearthed report found Eni’s research center warned company brass about the “catastrophic” risk of carbon dioxide pollution back in 1970, yet Eni continued to market products like methane and diesel as clean fuels. Eni’s own company magazine discussed climate change during the late 80s and 90s while simultaneously running ad campaigns describing methane gas as a “clean” fuel. “
These findings reinforce and add to the pattern found in previous research: oil majors understood the catastrophic effects their products would have on the world, yet failed to warn the public, concealed their knowledge, denied the problem, and obstructed efforts to solve it,” said Ben Franta at the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme told the Guardian. (Guardian, Reuters, The Local, DeSmog)