Italy Postpones Coal Plant Shutdown to 2038 Amid Middle East Energy Crisis

Italy's lower house of parliament passed a bill on Tuesday to postpone the permanent shutdown of the country's coal-fired power plants from the end of 2025 to 2038, a delay of 13 years driven by energy security concerns stemming from the ongoing conflict in Iran. The Chamber of Deputies approved the measure, which now moves to the Senate for a final vote. Senate passage is widely expected, given that the ruling coalition holds a majority there. The bill reflects Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government's willingness to scale back climate commitments in the face of rising energy costs and supply pressures. Italy currently has four coal-powered plants on standby, three of which are owned by Enel, the country's largest utility.

Italy coal phase-out deadline: Coal phase-out deadline (before: End of 2025 (under 2024 PNIEC plan), after: 2038 (under new bill))

Iran conflict drives Rome's energy security pivot Italy depends heavily on imported gas and has faced mounting pressure from industry and consumers as energy costs have surged in the wake of the Middle East conflict. Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Italy's Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, stated this month that the four standby plants could be reactivated if the conflict in the Middle East were to provoke an energy crisis. The co-ruling League party, which pushed for the postponement, described the decision as "right and responsible" given what it called the current "serious international energy crisis." However, experts interviewed by AFP cautioned that reactivating the plants would not lower electricity prices. Two of the four plants, located on the Italian mainland, lost their authorization to burn coal in January and would require new permit applications — a process that could take years and face legal and local opposition, according to the climate think-tank ECCO. The two remaining plants, located in Sardinia, are scheduled to close in 2028-2029 once the island is connected to the mainland grid by a new submarine cable. Electricity production from coal represented less than one percent of Italy's national electricity output in 2025, according to the electricity transmission system operator Terna.

WWF condemns move as G7 coal pledge unravels The decision drew sharp criticism from environmental groups and the center-left opposition, who accused the government of abandoning its climate commitments. WWF Italy called the vote "a dangerous U-turn for the fight against climate change and for the health of citizens." The European Commissioner for Climate, Wopke Hoekstra, who was in Rome on Tuesday for a Senate hearing on Italy's energy mix, declined to comment on the decision. The move directly contradicts a commitment Italy helped broker just two years ago: in 2024, while holding the G7 presidency, Italy chaired a meeting at which member states agreed to end coal use in power generation by 2035. Beatrice Petrovich, an energy analyst at the think-tank ECCO, described the delay as "a concerning political signal, looking toward the past," adding that "any gain in security is far from guaranteed." Italy is not alone in reconsidering its coal commitments: Germany, South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan have also signaled that coal plants could help ease energy difficulties caused by the war, according to Le Soir.

Merz questions Germany's own 2038 coal exit Italy's decision lands amid a broader European debate over the future of coal in the face of energy market disruptions. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also questioned Germany's own legislated coal phase-out target of 2038, citing the energy crisis, though Germany is already projected to miss its climate targets even under the current plan. The European Union's climate framework continues to press member states toward coal elimination, with Brussels insisting on the need to exit coal to meet the bloc's climate objectives. Rome's move signals a growing tension between national energy security calculations and the EU's collective decarbonization agenda. Analysts described the vote as more symbolic than immediately consequential, given the practical and legal obstacles to restarting the mainland plants, but warned it sets a troubling precedent for climate policy across the continent.

Italy's energy and climate plan, known as the PNIEC, had committed the country to a full coal exit by the end of 2025, making it one of the earlier planned phase-outs among major European economies. In 2022, G7 nations reaffirmed their coal phase-out commitments and climate goals despite the energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In 2024, under Italy's G7 presidency, member states agreed to end coal use in power generation by 2035. Germany has written a 2038 coal phase-out into its national legislation. Italy's coal sector had already shrunk dramatically in recent years, with coal accounting for less than one percent of national electricity production in 2025.

13 (years) — delay in Italy's coal phase-out deadline

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