Italy abstains on another part of the European Green Deal

Brussels – Packaging, restoring nature, stopping conventional engines from 2035: all European legislative dossiers that have in common not only that they are “children” of the European Green Deal, but also that they are files to which Italy in Brussels voted against or on which it decided to abstain (for qualified majority voting, abstention is equivalent to voting against).

The latest came today (Jan. 29), when member states at the EU Council confirmed the agreement reached in October with the European Parliament on two regulations to phase down fluorinated gases (F-gases) and other substances that cause global heating and deplete the ozone layer. The interinstitutional agreement was confirmed with Hungary voting against and Italy and the Czech Republic abstaining.

An abstention that confirms a real political line that MASE, Italy’s Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, has been pursuing in Brussels since Giorgia Meloni has been leading the government: that of voting against or abstaining on most pieces of the Green Pact for Europe puzzle. Most notable is the vote against the packaging regulation and the nature restoration law, but also the abstention on stopping heat engines from 2035 and the one on the one-year extension of a 15 per cent gas demand cut to handle the energy crisis.

According to qualified sources, Italy “while supporting the environmental and climate objectives” of the regulation, has decided to abstain because the final text contains some restrictions not shared by the country and considered “excessive for operators.” But as on packaging and the Nature Restoration Act, Italy is voting against or abstaining on files where it is impossible to build a blocking minority and on which, therefore, its vote has a specific political purpose but is not decisive in scuttling the measure.

The regulations call for a crackdown on fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) such hydrofluorocarbonsons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which are widely used mainly in refrigeration equipment (such as refrigerators), heat pumps and air conditioning systems, and electrical switchgear in power systems. Emissions caused by F-gases are highly damaging due to their high global warming effect, up to several hundred thousand times stronger than that of CO2. Today, F-gas emissions account for 2.5 per cent of total EU greenhouse gas emissions, but unlike other greenhouse gas emissions, they doubled between 1990 and 2014.

Among other things, the agreement confirmed today by governments sets 2050 as the end date for the consumption of hydrofluorocarbons and sets specific dates for the complete elimination of the use of fluorinated gases in air conditioning, heat pumps, and switchgear. According to the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, “these strengthened rules on fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting substances are a very important step forward,” speaking of one of the most ambitious regulations in the world.