Three prominent Italian companies, including investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), energy company Eni and energy infrastructure company Snam announced today the signing of a letter of intent to start a strategic collaboration for the energy transition. The companies stated that the goal of the collaboration is to develop integrated projects in key sectors of the energy transition such as hydrogen, circular economy and sustainable mobility.

The collaboration aims to combine Eni’s and Snam’s complementary technical and industrial skills in the upstream/downstream and midstream sectors respectively, and CDP’s financial skills and expertise in managing relations with institutions involved in the initiatives.

Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, said: “

Today we have created a strategic alliance for our country, which brings together excellent skills and uses them to facilitate the decarbonisation process that our country is undertaking. We will pool our respective experiences, resources and innovative technologies to create important synergies in those areas of the energy transition that represent the future, such as CO2 capturing and storage, the green and blue hydrogen value chain, renewables, and decarbonized sustainable mobility products. Italy boasts significant economic and industrial expertise that will help the country to adopt various fundamental solutions to overcome this great challenge of decarbonisation, and these will be even more valuable if implemented in a way that leverages all possible synergies.”

According to the companies, the collaboration will pursue numerous initiatives, including forming joint initiatives aimed at developing the production, transportation and marketing of green hydrogen, the production and use of hydrogen in rail transport, and cooperation on the creation of multifunctional CNG (compressed natural gas), LNG (liquefied natural gas) and hydrogen refuelling stations and LNG infrastructure. The three companies will also cooperate on difficult to decarbonize sectors, such as refineries, by developing the potential of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to promote the production of blue hydrogen in the transition phase and progressively through green hydrogen.

Snam CEO Marco Alverà said:

“Collaboration between companies is essential for achieving national and European decarbonisation objectives and allowing our country to be at the forefront of new sustainable technologies globally. In this sense, the strategic alliance launched today by Eni and Snam, two leading companies in their respective sectors with complementary areas of expertise, and with the support and expertise of CDP, is an essential step towards enabling the energy transition throughout the value chain, notably to encourage the development of green hydrogen in mobility and industry, helping to create a national value chain and new opportunities for development and employment in our country”.

The companies stated that the Letter of Intent is part of their broader commitment to support the achievement of the target of 55% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2030 established by the European Union and implementing the European and national hydrogen and circular economy strategies.

Fabrizio Palermo, CEO of CDP, said:

“We are very pleased with the joint commitment of CDP, Eni and Snam, a strategic alliance aimed at developing innovative projects linked to the energy transition and the circular economy. This alliance will generate a positive social, economic and environmental impact on the country. The Letter of Intent signed today fully aligns with the path envisaged by the CDP industrial plan which supports the sustainable development targets established by the United Nations 2030 Agenda, contributing to the mitigation of climate change and to the creation of a growth model that is increasingly oriented towards sustainability”.