{"id":15394,"date":"2021-12-22T14:22:08","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T13:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/italy\/?p=15394"},"modified":"2025-07-02T09:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:27:11","slug":"greenpeace-confronts-italian-frigate-returning-from-mission-protecting-oil-and-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/italy\/comunicato-stampa\/15394\/greenpeace-confronts-italian-frigate-returning-from-mission-protecting-oil-and-gas\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace confronts Italian frigate returning from mission protecting oil and gas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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La Spezia\/ Rome, Italy, 22. December 2021<\/strong> – This morning, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior confronted an Italian military vessel as it returned to the port of La Spezia (north eastern Italy) from a mission protecting ENI oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Guinea. The Rainbow Warrior and a flotilla of sailing boats, kayaks and inflatables followed the frigate \u2018Marceglia\u2019 to La Spezia, with activists displaying banners reading: \u201cDefend the climate – not fossil fuels\u201d<\/em>. The frigate is returning from the \u2018Gabinia\u2019 mission, where it carried out anti-piracy patrols, with the primary task of protecting energy company ENI’s oil and gas assets in the region. <\/p>\n\n

The activists, from Italy, Germany, Spain and several other countries, are denouncing the funding of military missions to protect the fossil fuel interests of Italy’s biggest energy company, ENI. ENI is one of the world\u2019s most polluting fossil fuel companies, responsible in 2020 for 439 million tonnes of carbon emissions.<\/p>\n\n

A recent report by Greenpeace<\/a> estimates that almost two-thirds of all EU military missions in 2021 are linked to the protection of gas and oil. Italy, Spain and Germany, three of the biggest countries in the EU, are spending more than \u20ac1.2 billion this year to fund these operations. <\/p>\n\n

“We are faced with a real paradox: in the midst of a climate emergency, which is already taking a heavy toll and is the greatest threat to humanity, Europe is wasting resources to defend oil and gas and the companies most responsible for fuelling the emergency,”<\/em> said Luca Iacoboni, head of Greenpeace Italy’s climate and energy campaign<\/strong>. “Governments must stop funding these missions and instead invest in home-grown renewable energy and energy efficiency. Only then can they minimize the impact of the climate crisis and help bring about a green and peaceful future.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n

The countries of the European Union are highly dependent on fossil energy imports. The EU imports almost 90 percent of the oil and 70 percent of the natural gas it needs from often politically unstable regions. With the help of military missions, the EU secures critical trade routes in supplier countries. <\/p>\n\n

As the Greenpeace report reveals, among the European countries analysed, Italy is the one that spends the most on military missions in defence of fossil fuels. In addition to the two operations whose explicit task is the “surveillance and protection of ENI platforms located in international waters”<\/em>, i.e. \u2018Mare Sicuro\u2019 off the coast of Libya and \u2018Gabinia\u2019 in the Gulf of Guinea, defence minister Lorenzo Guerini has linked other Italian missions to the protection of fossil fuels: including in Iraq, the eastern Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n

In the end consumers pay a triple bill for fossil energy imports, warned Greenpeace: the costs of securing imports militarily are added to already high energy prices, and, ironically, the financial damage of a worsening climate crisis.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIn the age of the climate crisis, such a policy not only endangers the lives of civilians and soldiers and wastes public money but also threatens human health by supporting the consumption of resources that pose a clear and present danger to the planet\u201d, said Mike Fincken, captain of the Rainbow Warrior. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Note to editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Photo and video material of the protest is available later today under these links: Gallery Photo:<\/strong> https:\/\/media.greenpeace.org\/Share\/nqok6qxs43y355px3u380qs01k0u28fv<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Gallery VIDEO<\/strong> <\/strong><\/a>https:\/\/media.greenpeace.org\/Share\/r85b8js756xta4223lw2w70bpc5v232e<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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