Ustainability in the history of Eni
 
  1953-1956

The Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI, today written as Eni) was set up by Law 136 in February 1953, with Enrico Mattei as chairman. The first decade was characterised by Mattei’s vision that combined a winning strategy on international markets, where the company signed commercial agreements with many oil-producing countries, with close attention to man and the environment, investing in research and high-quality, up-to-the-minute structures.
In 1953 work began on the construction of a purpose-built village for company employees in San Donato Milanese, where the company had its general headquarters. The houses, research laboratories and offices in the area, which in 1954 was given the name of Metanoploi, were surrounded by trees and fields and from the very beginning were served by a children’s nursery, school, cinema and sports centre.
Article 22 of the law that set up Eni stated that 15% of the profits must be used for scientific research and training young people. In 1953, Mattei ordered the construction of a research centre covering 30,000 square metres in San Donato, while in 1956 a secondary school specialising in the study of hydrocarbons was built with the aim of training future supervisors for work in the energy sector.
Before Eni was set up, the managers of Agip service stations were given precise indications about how to behave and treat customers, based on good manners, speed and efficiency in satisfying customers’ needs, in order to distinguish the brand in a market dominated by aggressive competitors. From 1953 the company’s service stations no longer offered only petrol and oil but also bar and restaurant facilities run by experienced personnel.

  
 
 
  1957-1962

In 1957 in Teheran Eni signed the first contract containing the “Mattei Formula”, which was a new way of establishing commercial relations with oil-producing countries that involved joint collaboration and undermined the type of contracts previously offered by foreign companies. The basis of this type of collaboration agreement was that Eni personnel were required to study and introduce into the company respect for the habits, religious beliefs and lifestyles of the population they came into contact with as part of their work.
On 10 August 1958 a holiday village was inaugurated in Borca di Cadore, Italy, based on an idea conceived by Edoardo Gellner. The village provided holiday homes for company employees, and the houses themselves are still today a fine example of how architecture can be successful integrated into the environment since they were built with eco-compatible materials and blended into the surrounding countryside. The houses were designed for all Eni employees and their families, without any distinction between rank or position, so that no house was better or more elegant than another.

  
 
  1963-1977

Before the oil crisis that affected the world at the beginning of the 1970s, Eni began systematically investing in gas from as early as 1968 with the construction of a regasifier at Panigaglia. In 1969 the first agreement with the USSR for buying natural gas was signed, followed in 1973 by an agreement with the Algerian company, Sonatrach.
In 1974 the trans-Austrian gas pipeline was completed together with the Soviet pipeline, while in 1977 the storage fields for strategic gas reserves were developed.
In 1970 an employee’s social fund was set up which over the years was integrated in accordance with their indications.


  
 
 
  1978-1986

In 1978 Eni began started an operational programme in the renewable energy and energy conservation sector which, in 1980, resulted to the company becoming involved in the geothermic exploration area using geothermic fluid for civil and industrial heating purposes.
The extremely high standards of research carried out during this period also resulted in a series of technically ambitious projects, including the 2000-kilometre Transmed gas pipeline (inaugurated in 1983), with 155 kilometres of the pipeline crossing the Mediterranean at depths of up to 600 metres.
In 1986 new ground-breaking technology was developed in the deep-sea production sector, with the introduction of the Swacs system utilising acoustic signals.

  
 
  1987-1992

Eni consolidated its presence in the sector and towards local stakeholders. In 1987 the Green River Project in the Niger Delta was launched, aimed at establishing agricultural cooperation with the involvement of local personnel. In 1992 Tragaz (Consorzio Snamprogetti/ Nuovo Pignone) signed a contract with Gazprom for the modernisation of pipelines in the Russian pipeline network, thereby guaranteeing a more efficient and, above all, safer service, while in 1992 Eni SpA was founded.


  
 
  1993-2002

Between 1995 and 2001 almost 70% of Eni SpA was floated on the stock exchange, with the Italian state receiving around €24 billion in exchange. In 1994 Eni was one of the first European companies to adopt a Code of Practice (renewed in 1998 and again in 2003), while in 1996 it published the first Environmental Report.
In 1999 an agreement was signed with Gazprom for the construction of the Blues Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey, across the Black Sea, and in 2001 Eni was the first Italian company to adhere to the ONU’s Global Compact. When Eni was being transformed into an operational company, between 2001 and 2002 relations between the company and trade unions was restructured in an extremely innovative way with the signing of a series of national and international agreements.
In 2002, a Corporate Social Responsibility department was created to develop management and communication sustainability processes and models inside the company.


  
 
  2003-2005

In 2003 Eni began collaborating with UNICEF on a project aimed at promoting the prevention of mother-infant transmitted HIV in Nigeria.
The company also won the Financial Statements Oscar for the emphasis given in the reports to subjects connected to governance and sustainability.
In 2004 the 520-kilometre Green Stream gas pipeline was built from Libya across the Mediterranean.
Eni published “Company Responsibility – Values and Conduct” with the objective of studying subjects linked to sustainability within the company.
In 2005 the company adhered to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, aimed at guaranteeing the transparency of financial income generated by extraction operations.


 
 
  2006-2008

In 2006 an historical agreement, expiring in 2035, was signed between Eni and Gazprom. Eni also signed an agreement for doubling the liquefaction plant in Damietta, Egypt, and an agreement with the Turkish company, Calik Enerij, for constructing the Samsun-Ceyan oil pipeline which by avoiding crossing the Bosporus and the Dardanelles contributed to protecting the marine environment. In 2006 the “Sustainability Project” was launched which led to the publication in 2007 of the first Sustainability Report, while the Eni Foundation was set up to promote and carry out solidarity initiatives in favour of infancy and elderly people.
In 2007 Eni adopted Guidelines on Sustainability and on the Protection of Human rights, and entered the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the FTSE4Good Index and the CDP5 Climate Disclosure Leadership Index. In Fortune magazine’s list of the top 100 companies in the world who did most for sustainability, Eni moved up from twenty-eighth to third place.

Eni is recognised as the world's most sustainable company in the Oil & Gas sector among the companies included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. A success in addition to being confirmed on both indexes, Dow Jones Sustainability World and FTSE4Good indexes.Eni’s admission is confirmed also for the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index  and testifies of the company’s continuous commitment in the fight against climate change. The website www.30percento.it,  dedicated to Eni’s national campaign for energy efficiency,  is launched.

  
 
  2009-2010

Eni has signed the first three agreements pertaining to the Memorandum of Understanding with Angola's state oil company Sonangol. The MoU set out the principles and objectives for a cooperation model between the two companies encompassing the economic, industrial and social development of Angola.
Eni has announced the winners of the 2009 Eni Award, its competition to promote research and technological innovation in sustainable energy. Awards have been presented in four categories this year: New Frontiers in Hydrocarbons, Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy, Protection of the Environment and Research Debut.
Eni’s experimental online Conciliation service has been launched for the domestic gas customers in the Veneto region. Rapid and easy to use, Eni’s Conciliation Service aims to facilitate the amicable resolution of customers’ complaints, bringing the company closer to the consumer.
Eni has provided relief supplies to authorities of Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo for the  people involved in the civil war who will receive sanitary material and convenience goods, while further supplies will be provided to Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), where intense seasonal rains have made the hygienic-sanitary conditions particularly serious.

The Conciliation Agreement online continues to be extended from Veneto to the other Italian regions.
In February Eni and the Lombardia region launched a partnership for the experimental distribution of a new type of diesel oil with reduced environmental impact.
In February the first service station which sells idromethane has been inaugurated in Assago – a further step forward in sustainable mobility.
In May MIT and Eni launched in Cambridge the Solar Frontiers Center which promotes research in advanced solar technologies through projects ranging from new materials to hydrogen production from solar energy.

In June Eni’s CEO took part in the GC Leaders Summit 2010 in New York.

Our Ceo and Jeffrey Sachs Director of Columbia University Earth Institute announced an important partnership for sustainable development promotion in Africa.

In November Eni has been invited to join the new Global Compact LEAD platform, an initiative  restricted to companies which play a leading role for their commitment to sustainable development.

  
 
  2011

In January Our CEO  Paolo Scaroni  participated in the World Economic Forum in Davos for the launch of the Global Compact LEAD.
In February Eni and Stanford University signed a new research alliance on core technologies for the oil & gas industry.
In March Eni launched the new range of eni blu+ fuels.
In April Eni Sustainabilty reporting is published for the first time in the integrated version.
In May Eni participated in the 1st Global Compact Week in Copenhagen.
Eni started works for the first industrial application of the Eni Slurry Technology (EST) at its refining plant of Sannazzaro de' Burgondi.
In September Eni  is confirmed in the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Europe Indexes.
Eni is included in the Integrated Reporting Pilot Programme launched by the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) with the aim of contributing to the development of a new reporting system.
In October Eni ranked third in the fourth edition of the CSR Online Awards, Europe's first detailed study of the online communication of corporate social responsibility.
In November Eni is given an A+ under the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative, the most authoritative metric for the reporting of economic, environmental and social sustainability adopted by the world's leading companies.
Eni  renewed for 2012 its strategic partnership with the Earth Institute of Columbia University