Enel, Italy's largest utility, is seeking more than €1.6m ($2.4m, £1.4m) in damages from Greenpeace for alleged losses in electricity production and damage caused by protests launched by the environmental group at Enel's four coal-fired power stations.
Giuseppe Onufrio, executive director of Greenpeace Italy, said yesterday the group would contest Enel's claim in spite of the warning of possible legal action.
In September 2008, six Greenpeace activists were acquitted of criminal damage after scaling a cooling tower at Eon's Kingsnorth power station in the UK and causing damage that cost £30,000 to repair.
Industry executives and activists will be watching to see if Italy takes the same attitude as the UK judge.
Mr Onufrio said: "If Enel are trying to intimidate us into shifting our campaign activities away from climate change, the first priority for the world's environment, they are making a big mistake. Burning coal is the single biggest source of CO 2 emissions and Enel's plans to expand its use of coal will accelerate climate change."
Enel confirmed it was seeking damages. Its claim, issued shortly before the Copenhagen climate conference, is a signal the state-controlled utility intends to take a tough line in promoting its expansion of coal-fired power stations.
The claim against Greenpeace comes as activists prepare to protest against plans by Enel and the centre-right government to relaunch Italy's nuclear industry after a two-decade moratorium.
A letter from Enel's lawyers to Greenpeace gives details of the €1,606,545 in alleged damages accrued since 2006 down to the last cent, including the €1,365.75 charged for cleaning the chimney at Porto Tolle on which abseiling activists painted No Carbone.
The bulk of the claimed damages was said to be the cost of lost production at the Brindisi coal-fired station and a nearby coal offloading jetty. Enel switched to more costly - but less polluting - fuel oil to keep the station going.
"Fining Greenpeace for having protested against coal power plants is like fining trade unions when they strike," Mr Onufrio said.
Greenpeace, citing official statistics, said the Brindisi plant was Italy's biggest emitter of CO 2 , producing 44.4m tonnes in 2008, and that Enel was Italy's largest industrial CO 2 emitter.
Enel said it had reduced its emissions of CO 2 by 35 per cent this decade, while Italy's overall emissions increased by 3 per cent.
"Greenpeace should know its numbers well," it said; "only 31 per cent" of Italy's CO 2 emissions were produced by power plants, of which Enel accounted for about one-third. Coal-fired plants produced 13 per cent of Italy's electricity, compared with 45 per cent in Germany and a 27 per cent European average.
(The Financial Times 09/12/2009)