Italy’s Council of State rejects greenwashing claims for Eni’s Diesel+

In Italy, the Council of State has after 4 years rejected the accusation of the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority (AGCM) that claimed Eni had implemented an unfair commercial practice to the detriment of of consumers for the Eni Diesel+ fuel advertising campaign.

The Council of State in fact fully accepted Eni’s appeal in the proceedings in which the company was condemned to pay a fine of 5 million euros. In 2020, the AGCM contested the valorisation in terms of environmental benefit of the green component consisting of the percentage of HVO (hydrogenated biofuel) mixed in diesel. With the ruling of the Council of State, an affair which caused Eni significant economic and reputational damage comes to an end, confirming unjust accusations of ‘greenwashing’ which are now revealed to be totally unfounded.

The Council of State has definitively ascertained that no unfair commercial practices have been implemented by Eni to the detriment of consumers and that the charges raised at the time by the AGCM are to be considered unfounded, ignoring the principle according to which terms such as green and similar do not can never be associated with products considered, by their nature, not ‘zero impact’ on the environment.