Environmental organizations remain ‘unwavering’ as they get SLAPPed with lawsuit by Eni

Italian oil and gas giant Eni has filed an official strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) against two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon.

Eni has joined the likes of Shell, TotalEnergies, and Energy Transfer in what the NGOs see as an ill-founded legal assault on a Greenpeace organization and an attack against civil freedoms and environmental protection. 

“There is no surprise in ENI joining other climate polluters like Shell, TotalEnergies and Energy Transfer in trying to silence civil society. The business model of the oil and gas industry entails both an assault on people and nature, as well as oppression of those who call it out,” stated Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon.

“Our determination to defend our planet remains unwavering. We shall continue to expose ENI as a member of the club of companies most responsible for the climate crisis, and inform the public about what ENI is trying to hide.”

As reported, Eni’s case was first announced in July 2023 to counter the Just Cause lawsuit, filed two months earlier by Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon against the oil giant. Following this week’s official case filing, the court date has been set for 2025.

The NGO duo claims that rising oil and gas-related emissions are directly responsible for the onslaught of extreme weather events striking worldwide, including killer drought, extreme heat, and floods in Italy. A peer-reviewed 2023 study by Greenpeace Netherlands found Eni’s self-reported 2022 emissions could cause 27,000 excess deaths due to rising temperature alone before the end of the century. 

“The fossil fuel industry is trying to constitute a world in which communities are not only battered by the climate crisis, but where it is dangerous for anyone to protest and offer an alternative. If companies like ENI have their way, scientists, Indigenous Peoples and environmental organisations will be squeezed into an ever shrinking democratic space,” said Chiara Campione, program co-director of Greenpeace Italy. 

As environmental organizations claim that their climate litigation cases are helping to hold polluters accountable, they see the latest lawsuit as part of a looming “backlash” from oil majors. They believe that the EU’s anti-SLAPP directive, which Italy is required to implement by May 7, 2026, will help end such tactics.

Eni recently published the 23rd edition of its global energy statistical review, the World Energy Review (WER). As stated in the report, despite an uptick in the use of renewables, their 3% slice in the energy mix cake can hardly compete with fossil fuel’s 80% share of the global energy demand.