Italy’s highest court has ruled that a lawsuit brought by climate activists against Italian energy company ENI and its government shareholders can go ahead, in what Greenpeace said on Tuesday was a victory for efforts to pursue climate justice in Italy.

In an ordinance released on Monday, the Court of Cassation rejected ENI’s motions to dismiss the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds and ordered the case to be heard on its merits by a Rome tribunal.

ENI, for its part, said that it was greatly satisfied with the decision, and it expected that the Rome court would ultimately “dismantle” the climate activists’ claims of responsibility.

Greenpeace, environmental group ReCommon and a dozen Italian citizens had sued ENI and its two main government shareholders, the Italian finance ministry and development bank, in 2023 seeking damages for what they said were the effects of climate change.

The plaintiffs cited their fundamental rights enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, as well as Italy’s ratification of various international climate accords and ENI’s stated commitment to reaching climate reduction targets.

ENI and the government sought to dismiss the suit on jurisdictional and other grounds, but the Cassation court ruled that the case could go ahead...

While the ruling doesn’t enter into the merits of the case, Greenpeace and Recommon highlighted the judges’ determination that Italian courts can have jurisdiction over claims about emissions by ENI subsidiaries in foreign countries, since in this case, harm allegedly occurred in Italy and decisions were made by the Italy-based parent company...

ENI said that it welcomed the ruling.