Climate campaigners interrupted a speech this morning by Nicolò Aggogeri, the managing director of the Italian oil company, Eni.

He was speaking at Glasgow University at a COP26 fringe event. It was about the transition to net zero emissions, one of the COP26 goals.

Activists from Glasgow Calls Out Polluters and Fridays for Future Italy criticised Eni’s climate record, its activities in Mozambique and plans to achieve net zero.

Eni published a net zero strategy earlier this year which included forestry programmes in Africa designed to offset more than 20 million tonnes in 2030 and over 40 million tonnes by 2050.

The company is also diversifying into renewables. Today, it reported it was taking a 20% stake in the third phase of the Dogger Bank windfarm. This is being developed by SSE in the North Sea and is predicted to be the world’s largest offshore windfarm when completed in 2026.

Pascoe Sabido, from Corporate Europe Observatory, said:

“Eni thinks that just because it aims to be net zero by 2050, it can carry on exploiting fossil fuels and destroying communities and the climate while compensating for it in the future. But it simply doesn’t add up.

“We need real zero and real climate solutions, which means an end to fossil fuel production, not ramping it up. Unfortunately for the planet, it seems that inside the climate negotiations most rich countries are also taking Eni’s lax approach to climate accounting.”

DrillOrDrop’s reporting from COP26 has been made possible by individual donations from readers