Italy Approves €27.4 Billion Investment in Green Energy Shift

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government approved a plan worth €27.4 billion ($30 billion) to promote green investments and ease the cost of energy for the industrial sector.

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“We want to support families and businesses, to make them even more the protagonists of a balanced and realistic transition,” Ecological Transition Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said in a statement after the approval.

The government also approved measures to speed up the construction of regasification terminals for on-shore liquid natural gas, the statement said. This will have an impact on projects in Porto Empedocle and Gioia Tauro, according to the statement.

The proposed plan follows a €1.3 billion energy package approved in September.

Meloni’s administration faces weak economic output — the Bank of Italy predicts growth of just 0.7% this year — as well as higher borrowing costs and a slump in global trade. While Italy’s mammoth debt load restricts its options, the administration wants to show it is protecting businesses and families and working toward green goals.

--With assistance from Flavia Rotondi and Zoe Schneeweiss.

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