SNAM: Three Ds Build Secure, Sustainable Energy System

Snam is Europe’s leader in natural gas transport and storage and renewable gases, and one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure operators ranking among Italy’s largest listed companies by market capitalisation. Snam has been building and managing sustainable and technologically advanced infrastructure guaranteeing energy security for 80 years.

“We are much more than an engineering company that builds and manages energy infrastructures,” Snam is, however, anxious to clarify, “we make our purpose concrete every day by building together a company that is ever closer to people, ever more innovative and ever more sustainable.”

“With the work of our people, we guarantee stable and safe supplies of sustainable energy, we allow heating and lighting millions of houses, we connect countries and communities and we create development opportunities with respect for the environment.”

“We lead the evolution of the sector thanks to the most innovative sustainable energy network.”

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

Of Snam’s central values, shaping the future is perhaps the most notable, and certainly the most laudable. “We complete long-term projects, impressive and complex, helping to outline the economic and cultural scenario of tomorrow,” the company sets out. “Our skills, combined with the experience in the energy infrastructures, allow us to have a bigger overview and guide a wider system.”

“We have the responsibility to imagine and shape a future that will go beyond us, all together.”

Astutely aligned with this, January saw the closing of Snam’s acquisition of a 49.9% of the equity interest directly and indirectly held by Eni in the companies operating two groups of international gas pipelines connecting Algeria to Italy. With Russia curtailing its gas flows to Europe, Algeria last year emerged as Rome’s biggest gas supplier, making the network between the two countries a strategic infrastructure for Rome’s energy security.

Eni and Snam will exercise joint control of SeaCorridor, with the transaction leveraging Eni’s and Snam’s respective areas of expertise in gas transport on a strategic route for the security of Italy’s natural gas supply, while enabling potential development initiatives within the hydrogen value chain also thanks to the natural resources North Africa has to offer.

“The North Africa-Europe link is a key element of progressive decarbonisation at the international level in support of the energy transition,” Snam identifies, paying a total consideration of some 405 million euros to Eni in the transaction.

The CDP’s ‘A List’ (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), meanwhile, is an index of companies that distinguish themselves for their commitment and transparency in combatting climate change. It is feted company to keep, and following a review this year Snam has gained a rare spot among the top 300 companies worldwide, out of more than 15,000 invited.

“The result recognises the Group’s efforts to reduce climate-changing emissions and manage climate risk,” Snam commented after the auspicious reveal. “After being one of the first companies in the energy sector to commit to achieving zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, Snam has set itself targets for 2030 on indirect ‘Scope 3’ emissions, becoming the first energy infrastructure company in the European Union to set emission reduction targets also for suppliers and investees.”

“Snam’s commitment is in line with the target of limiting global warming to within 1.5° C.”

STRATEGY PLAN

The past years have proved fairly transformative for Snam, seeing the company considerably increase its investments in new businesses, explore hydrogen-ready infrastructures and the potential of green gases.

In 2021, it then adopted a new roadmap for the next five and ten years which integrates the sustainability dimension even further into its industrial strategy, and which is founded on the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement framework. Three areas of growth came to the fore to be subject to significant investments between now and 2030 – primarily energy networks and storage, where the firm’s objective is to make its infrastructures compatible not only with natural gas but also with biomethane and hydrogen, essential to the energy transition.

The third priority area concerns the development of integrated green energy projects along the entire value chain, to foster market development and contribute to decarbonisation.

Three Ds – Development, Decarbonisation and Digitalisation – lead the way in accelerating these investments, set to hit 10 billion euros in the 2022-2026 period, a 23% increase compared to the 2021-2025 plan mainly for the commissioning of two Floating Storage Regasification Units (FSRUs), the construction of the Adriatic Line, the upgrade and development of storage. These investment opportunities will total in excess of 20 billion euros in the 2022-2030 period on networks, storage and energy transition.

“2022 was a watershed year for the global energy system,” Stefano Venier, CEO of Snam commented, with Snam well positioned to be among the leading companies in the transformation taking place in the energy sector and surely able to seize any and all development opportunities over the next decade. “Within a backdrop of extreme uncertainty and volatility, Snam has succeeded in guaranteeing maximum support to cope with the emergency, creating the basis for the necessary actions to tackle the near future.”

“Over the 2022-2026 plan period, we will significantly increase investments compared to the past, in order to strengthen our infrastructure and contribute to the country’s greater energy security for the next few years and beyond. At the same time, we will continue to work towards a carbon neutral future, focusing on green molecules: hydrogen and biomethane will be part of our journey towards carbon neutrality, as will our initiatives for the decarbonisation of final consumption, and we have committed a billion euros to them until 2026.”

“In the same time horizon, despite a still unstable scenario, we foresee significant growth in the main economic indicators which can be achieved without affecting our financial solidity with the aim of building a more sustainable, resilient and enduring energy system.”