The two companies have signed a co-operation agreement, at the presence of the Minister for Territorial Cohesion and South of Italy, Claudio De Vincenti, to analyze the environmental and socio-economic impacts of “Progetto Italia”, through which Eni is regenerating unused brownfield sites in the Country
Rome, 06 June 2017 - The purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Eni's CEO, Claudio Descalzi, and GSE’s President, Francesco Sperandini, is to promote the Italian territory, starting from South of Italy, by restarting economic activity and boosting employment within the broader context of environmental sustainability. The Minister for Territorial Cohesion and South of Italy, Claudio De Vincenti attended the event.
The agreement signed by both companies, which are committed to sustainable development to reduce CO2 emissions, focused primarily on the production of electricity from renewable sources. In the agreement , GSE is committed to using the knowledge it has acquired in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency in order to carry out an analysis of the environmental and socio-economic benefits of “Progetto Italia”, which Eni is conducting to regenerate Italy’s unused industrial areas in a sustainable way, in particular southern part of Italy .
In this path, Eni will be joined by the GSE, which will evaluate initiatives in terms of environmental sustainability, social inclusion, economic development and governance.
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said: "With “Progetto Italia” we aim to create new opportunities in the energy field by investing in the Italian territory and creating employment. In the first stage of the project, we will use well-established technologies such as solar PV, integrating some of the other advanced technologies already developed at Eni at a later stage. Through this MoU, Eni is consolidating its strategy of developing renewable energy which is based on efforts to contribute to the transition of the energy mix towards a low-emission future. “Progetto Italia” can rely on an extensive asset system that can be synergistically utilized”.
GSE President Francesco Sperandini said: "For many people sustainability is merely an expression. For GSE, on the other hand, it is at the heart of its corporate mission which is to promote sustainable development through all of its operations. Our dual aim is to pass on to future generations an environment that has qualitatively and quantitatively better resources than we currently have while also improving current living conditions in our country.”
Sperandini expressed his support for Eni's “Progetto Italia” and emphasized "The Italian territory has strengths that just need to be activated to trigger a virtuous circle that can combine renewable sources, energy efficiency, zero-kilometer farming, organic nutrition and consequently social inclusion and jobs ".
The Memorandum will span several years and provide ongoing monitoring of the project through a steering committee whose members will be nominated in the coming weeks by Eni and GSE. The Committee will then be able to evaluate areas of co-operation on issues such as sustainable mobility, behavioral efficiency and technological solutions to the use of recyclable materials in order to reduce the environmental impact of renewable generation plants.
