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Claims are circulating widely on social media stating that Italy has followed in the footsteps of the United States by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, which was signed in 2015 and aims to limit the rise in global warming to below 2C.
A post by an account posing as a legitimate news outlet, in which these assertions were made, has received thousands of views, likes and shares.
It features a picture of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but otherwise provides no extra information or evidence for the claim.
Italy was an original signatory to the agreement, and the United Nations’ official Treaty Collection website still shows the country as being a member.
It says that, like most other countries, Italy formally added its signature to the agreement on 22 April 2016 and ratified it on 11 November that year.
Additionally, the country is covered by the European Union, which is also a signatory to the agreement.
The bloc declared upon signing that, as it contained 28 member states at the time, including Italy, it was competent to enter international agreements and implement obligations linked to preserving, protecting and improving the environment, alongside other objectives.
Contrast Italy’s status as a signatory country with that of the US, which the Treaty Collection notes as having withdrawn in 2020 under US President Donald Trump during his first term, and then rejoined in February 2021 under former US President Joe Biden.
Since being reelected, Trump has signed an executive order to once again leave the agreement, which is due to take place in January 2026. For the time being, therefore, the US is still listed as a member.
There’s no evidence of Italy following suit, however: a Google search of keywords in both English and Italian shows no reputable reporting on the matter.
There has also been no official announcement by the Italian government to this end. Euroverify reached out to Italy’s environment ministry but did not receive a response.
Regardless, Prime Minister Meloni asserted her commitment to the Paris Agreement when she first took office in 2022.
She told the COP27 summit that her government remained steadfast in its pursuit of decarbonisation.
“We intend to pursue a just transition to support the affected communities and leave no one behind,” she said at the time.
However, she has criticised other international climate initiatives, such as the EU’s Green Deal, for being supposedly “ideological” in its approach.
Meloni has said that green policies that are too rigid could harm European industry and has called for the continent to be more cautious, to protect its economy and people.
“I have often said that in a desert there is nothing green,” she said in May. “Before anything else, we must fight the desertification of European industry.”
She claimed that the EU’s regulatory approach had harmed the automotive industry, and that its focus on electric vehicles, a market dominated by non-European countries, would expose the bloc.
“I continue to believe it is counterproductive to focus solely on the electric transition, where the supply chains are not controlled by Europe, but by other actors,” she said.
Proponents of the green deal, however, claim that it will transform the EU into a resource-efficient, competitive economy while making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
The EU also hopes that it will boost the economy through green technology, reducing pollution along the way and making sure “no person or place” is left behind.
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