Premier Mario Draghi said Friday that
Italy's less wealthy southern regions have a key role to play in
the process of diversifying energy sources as the nation seeks
to end its reliance on Russian gas and boost renewables to do
its bit to combat the climate crisis.
"The war in Ukraine has shown the danger of our dependence on
Russian gas," Draghi told the 'Verso Sud' forum organized by
Minister for the South Mara Carfagna.
"Italy has moved with the utmost speed to diversify gas supplies
and it continues to do so.
"The South is central.
"At the same time we are accelerating with the development of
renewable energy to improve the sustainability of our model of
production".
Italy imports almost all of its gas and 40% of those imports
come from Russia.
The government recently signed agreements with Algeria, Angola
and the Republic of Congo to boost gas supplies from them, amid
fears supplies from Russia could be cut off.
Other deals have been or are in the process of being made with
Egypt, Libya and Mozambique.
Italy has supported Western sanctions on Russia following its
invasion of Ukraine and said it will not veto an embargo on gas
imports if it comes to this.
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