“Respiriamo l’aria, è la primavera” translated from Italian, “Let’s breathe the air, it’s spring”. Begins with these words, Enel Energia’s new commercial. They are not written, but sung. Throughout the commercial, no lyrics appear and there are no speakers describing the products being sold. Only music, with the italian singer Marina Rei’s song “Primavera,” and images: a city waking up after winter, the first flowers, a woman going out on her terrace and breathing heavily, photovoltaic panels on some roofs, a dad on a bicycle with his son, then green hills with wind turbines. In short, the ingredients (even a bit of cliché) of sustainability are all there: respect for the environment, sustainable mobility, energy from renewable sources. At the end appears the words, “Enel. The first real energy.”
It is the commercial of Enel Energia’s new advertising campaign, airing from March 22. What does it advertise? No one says, but the images speak for themselves. First, the commercial shows Enel’s commitment to the environment. Plus, it certainly winks at the company’s renewable energy offerings. A perfect example of how even the images, and in this case the soundtrack, can be an advertising slogan, a green claim.
Images too are green claim
The European Green Claims Directive, 2024/825/EU, approved in 2024 and in force since September 2026, clearly explains that:
“claims can take any form, including images, symbols, trademarks, company or product names, that describe a positive or no impact on the environment.”
Enel Energia’s commercial therefore is from beginning to end an environmental slogan and must comply with the rules set by the European Commission. From our point of view it does not comply with them, because it does not explain clearly and completely what the company is proposing. Is it electricity from renewable sources? And from what sources: hydroelectric, photovoltaic, wind, or a mix of all three? Sure, at the end of the commercial it refers to the enel.it website or invites people to go to a store to ask about it. But this is not enough. Under European regulations it will be necessary to provide all the necessary information in the same medium in which the environmental statement is shown, so, in this case, in the same commercial.
Too many generic terms to talk about energy from renewable sources
If the Enel commercial does not use words, in most cases, on the other hand, companies that propose energy from renewable sources use words a lot, often improperly. In the various advertisements they talk about green or green or clean energy. Generic terms that, according to the European Commission, do not give correct information and that the green claims directive prohibits.
To give just a few examples, Iren, in the commercial in which it promotes its renewable energy offerings, talks about “100% green electricity”, A2A proposes “clean energy”. But the list could go on.
Behind the supply of energy from renewables, also fossil sources
The goal of this as well as other European directives is to protect consumers and, in this case, to provide clear and correct information for their purchasing choice. Thus, in addition to using precise terms, suppliers of electricity from renewable sources should transparently state whether the company also uses fossil sources, such as gas or oil, as well as whether it was for other customers and other commercial offerings. Many suppliers, in fact, offer specific renewable energy contracts, but their overall energy mix may include fossil sources. Enel Energia, for example, offers 100 percent renewable plans for domestic consumers, but the company also uses fossil sources (data are published by the Energy Services Manager and reported by Enel Energia). In 2023, the company produced energy using:
- renewable sources: 52.28%
- coal: 9.73%
- natural gas: 31.98%
- petroleum products: 0.85%
- nuclear: 1.53%
- other sources: 3.62%
This is all information that every company is required to publish on its website and can be read on the bill. It is not mandatory to report them in commercials as well, but, on the other hand, doing so would be a guarantee of transparency. In the presence of these numbers, claiming that a company offers 100% green energy seems if anything not entirely correct.
Suppliers of electricity from renewable sources are many: in addition to the aforementioned Enel Energia, A2A, and Iren, there are E.ON Energia, NeN, Sorgenia, Illumia, and Alperia. Then there are the companies that use only renewable sources, such as Octopus energy, Ènostra, We for green, Lifegate energy and many others. From all of them we would like to see the same level of transparency and fairness in the information provided.
