Global energy transition risks obscured as IEA chief urges Italy’s nuclear revival amid systemic gridlock

Indigenous and peasant communities in Italy and beyond have long opposed nuclear power as a continuation of extractive colonialism, linking uranium mining in Niger and Kazakhstan to the same power structures that displaced rural Italians during the post-war industrial boom. The anti-nuclear movement in Italy’s Mezzogiorno region, for example, was intertwined with land reform struggles, where peasants saw nuclear plants as tools of state control over their territories. Traditional ecological knowledge in Mediterranean cultures emphasizes decentralized, small-scale energy systems, contrasting sharply with the centralized megaprojects favored by technocrats.

Italy’s nuclear history is marked by cyclical failures: the 1960s-80s boom ended with the 1987 referendum, and the 2008 Berlusconi attempt to revive it collapsed after Fukushima. This pattern mirrors global nuclear cycles, where initial enthusiasm gives way to cost overruns, public opposition, and geopolitical instability. The IEA’s push for nuclear revival ignores how past energy transitions—from coal to oil to renewables—were driven by crises (oil shocks, climate agreements) rather than linear technological progress. Italy’s resistance to nuclear power also reflects its unique position as a Mediterranean country with deep ties to both European energy markets and North African gas dependencies.

In India, the anti-nuclear movement has fused with Indigenous Adivasi struggles against uranium mining in Jharkhand and Odisha, where communities frame nuclear power as a form of state violence against their lands and cultures. Similarly, in Italy, the No Tav movement in Val di Susa has linked opposition to high-speed rail (a nuclear-adjacent infrastructure) to broader resistance against state-led development projects that displace local communities. Across Latin America, the concept of *buen vivir*—a Quechua and Aymara philosophy of living in harmony with nature—offers a framework for energy transitions that prioritize community well-being over GDP growth, contrasting with the IEA’s growth-centric model.

The IEA’s nuclear advocacy is based on outdated Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) models that exclude externalities like decommissioning costs, waste storage, and the high water usage of nuclear plants in drought-prone regions like Italy. Peer-reviewed studies show that solar and wind, combined with storage, are now cheaper than nuclear in 99% of the world, with learning curves accelerating as deployment scales. The IEA’s own reports acknowledge that nuclear’s share of global electricity has stagnated at ~10% for decades, while renewables grew from 2% to 30% in 20 years. Additionally, the scientific consensus on climate urgency demands immediate decarbonization, which nuclear cannot deliver at the required speed due to its decade-long lead times.

Artistic and spiritual traditions across Italy have long framed energy as a sacred relationship with the earth, from the peasant rituals of the *Festa della Terra* to the Franciscan ethos of *fratello sole e sorella luna*. The anti-nuclear movement in the 1980s was deeply aesthetic, with protest art depicting reactors as monstrous machines consuming the land. In Japan, the *hibakusha* (atomic bomb survivors) and their descendants have woven nuclear trauma into cultural memory through poetry, theater, and festivals like Hiroshima’s *Peace Memorial Ceremony*, which critiques both nuclear weapons and power. These traditions offer a counter-narrative to the IEA’s utilitarian framing of energy as a commodity.

Scenario modeling by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows Italy could achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2035 with existing technologies, but this requires radical decentralization, community ownership, and grid modernization—none of which are addressed by the IEA’s nuclear focus. The IEA’s own *Net Zero by 2050* pathway includes nuclear as a minor player (10% of electricity), suggesting its advocacy is more about maintaining the status quo than accelerating decarbonization. Future risks include stranded nuclear assets as renewables outcompete them, while the IEA’s nuclear push could lock Italy into a high-cost, slow-transition pathway that exacerbates energy poverty and delays climate action.

Southern Italy’s rural communities, including the *comuni* of Sicily and Calabria, have long been marginalized in energy policymaking, with energy infrastructure imposed from Rome or Brussels without consultation. Migrant workers in Italy’s informal economy face disproportionate energy poverty, yet their perspectives are excluded from debates dominated by urban elites and industry lobbyists. The anti-nuclear movement in Italy has also sidelined feminist and queer perspectives, despite the fact that women and LGBTQ+ communities are often most affected by energy precarity and nuclear risks. Globally, Indigenous women leaders like the Māori activist Tina Ngata have been at the forefront of anti-nuclear movements, yet their voices are systematically excluded from Western media narratives.