Italy - November 22, 2025 Extinction Rebellion temporarily dyed rivers, seas, lakes, and fountains green in ten Italian cities on November 22, 2025. The action used fluorescein, a harmless salt regularly employed to monitor water flows. The protest was launched with the slogan “Stop Ecocide.” Activists accused the Italian Government of “ecocidal policies” and highlighted the effects of climate collapse worsened by pollution and contamination across the country. The action took place during the final days of COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Groups across Italy used fluorescein to create a visual demonstration pointing to areas already suffering environmental damage. Several rivers were dyed green. These included the Po at the Murazzi in Turin, the Reno in Bologna’s Canale delle Moline, the Darsena at the Navigli in Milan, the Parma stream in Parma, and the Tara River in Taranto. Activists noted the Tara is heavily contaminated by the former ILVA plant and now threatened by a new desalination project. Other actions focused on seawater. Demonstrators colored the Grand Canal in Venice, where Greta Thunberg was present, along with waters in Trieste and the ancient port of La Cala in Palermo. In Padua and Genoa, activists targeted fountains in Prato della Valle and Piazza De Ferrari. Police in Venice identified several people and seized musical instruments and a displayed banner. “It is ending the most important global summit to define agreements to counter climate and social collapse, and again this year Italy blocked ambitious measures,” said Paola from Venice. The COP30 draft supporting a fossil-fuel phase-out had backing from 82 delegations, but Italy and Poland opposed it. The text was weakened and later circulated without the phase-out included. The compromise was judged insufficient by many observers and far from what scientists consider necessary to limit global warming. “We color Italy’s waters green because this is the world toward which current climate policies are dragging us,” said Selene from the banks of the Tara River. Projections show present policies would push temperatures up 2.6°C by the end of the century. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that such warming would increase the risk of passing climate tipping points and make regions uninhabitable. He described acidified seas, coral loss, melting ice sheets, the Amazon turning to savanna, deadly heat, collapsing agriculture, and billions forced to migrate. Italy plays a major role, ranking sixth globally for fossil-fuel investments. The country continues to expand gas projects linked to the Mattei Plan in Africa and recently approved 34 new drilling licenses. Two years earlier, after COP28 in Dubai, Extinction Rebellion colored waters green in five Italian cities. Since then, temperatures have hit new records and extreme events have caused more victims. The group doubled its actions this year from five cities to ten. “It is time to stop ecocide and demand political choices that meet the scale of the crisis,” said Bianca from Turin.