This research examines how populist political narratives in Italy construct dissatisfaction with climate policies, particularly those before and after the launch of the European Green Deal. As a country simultaneously vulnerable to climate risks and central to the rise of populism, Italy provides a crucial context for understanding how political discourse shapes environmental governance. The study addresses two questions: (1) How do Italian populist actors frame EU climate legislation? (2) How do these narratives differ across parties: a) in relation to the respective core ideologies; b) in moments of heightened issue salience and with parties’ participation in government? Focusing on the three mainstream populist parties League (Lega), Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia), and the Five-Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle), the analysis draws on theories of populist ideology, party positioning on climate change and the effect of populism on climate discourse and policies. Through a Qualitative Content Analysis (MAXQDA) of party communications and parliamentary speeches (from ItaParlCorpus dataset and manual scraping), specific attention is dedicated to the determinants of party discourse, looking at the combination of populist elements such as people-centrism and anti-elitism and the left-right ideologies. Possible explanations are also complemented by semi-structured interviews with political representatives. Findings aim to clarify how left- and right-wing populist ideologies as well as strategic evaluations shape party responses to EU climate action, contributing to support communicatively sensible climate policymaking.