Framing the Future: How Environmental Movements and Groups in Italy Frame the Energy Transition

Southern Europe is currently facing a "double exposure" to accelerating climate risks and the pressing mandates of the EU energy transition. Within this context, Italy serves as a critical laboratory for observing how civil society actors are reconfiguring their strategies and discourses in the wake of the "polycrisis." While the region is often analyzed through the lens of institutional governance and policy implementation gaps, this paper shifts the focus to the non-institutional political actors shaping the conflict over the direction and speed of decarbonization. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of manifestos, public communications, and secondary data, this study maps the ideological and strategic divergences within the Italian environmental archipelago. We argue that the apparent consensus on the necessity of an energy transition masks deep-seated conflicts regarding distributive justice and democratic governance. The analysis identifies three competing frames that struggle for hegemony in the public discourse. First, traditional environmental organizations (e.g., Legambiente, WWF) largely adopt an "Eco-modernist" frame. By supporting green innovation and cooperating with institutions in the planning of technological deployment, these actors position themselves as partners in a centralized, market-driven modernization, often stigmatizing local opposition as "NIMBYism." Second, radical climate movements (e.g., Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion) mobilize an "Environmental Justice" frame. They challenge the socio-technical regime by defining energy as a public good, rejecting market-based solutions, and demanding a systemic transformation that addresses the root causes of inequality. Third, emerging grassroots actors and energy communities promote a strategy of "Prosumerism," representing a concrete "innovative practice" of bottom-up governance that attempts to bridge the gap between production and consumption. By analyzing these divergent paths, the paper contributes to the panel’s goal of understanding how social movements and environmental groups mobilize around climate issues. We highlight that in the Southern European context, the transition is not merely a technical challenge of implementing National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), but a contested political arena: the clash between the demand for a democratic, transformative approach and the reality of a centralized, security-oriented transition reveals the complex distributive struggles inherent in the European Green Deal, offering insights into the broader governance challenges facing the Mediterranean region.