The new initiative is in line with Italy’s priorities for combating climate change, improving air quality and creating green areas

The company will leverage CDP’s economic skills and territorial roots and will benefit from Snam’s expertise, which in the last ten years has carried out reforestation for over 1 million trees

Rome, 19 June 2020 - Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and Snam have started a collaboration to develop and implement projects to reduce and absorb CO₂ emissions through actions of reforestation and creation of green spaces within Italy.

To achieve this, a benefit corporation will soon be set up, which will promote and implement afforestation and reforestation initiatives on land owned by the public administration and local authorities, and which will be financially supported by companies and individuals, through the selling planting services. The goal is to plant 3 million new trees by 2030.

The collaboration is aimed at promoting concrete actions to combat climate change, improving the air quality of cities and creating green spaces to benefit local communities, in line with country’s strategic priorities and with the public’s growing interest in these issues.

The new company will benefit from CDP’s economic and financial skills, which will help to manage relations with institutions and assess the possible involvement of the Group’s companies and network of suppliers. Snam will bring the industrial and technical expertise gained over years of experience in environmental restoration initiatives related to its infrastructure projects, as well as skills in energy efficiency and urban reforestation.

For CDP, this project renews the commitment stated in its 2019-2021 business plan to develop initiatives aimed at responding to the major international trends relating to the energy transition and climate change, with a primary focus on decarbonisation and the reduction of emissions. In recent years, CDP has developed numerous important projects to accelerate the reduction of CO₂ emissions and the energy transition, including through taking action in support of renewable energies (wind, solar, wave motion) and the circular economy (e.g. bio-fuels), energy efficiency in public administrations and green innovation in agri-food supply chains.

For Snam, the start of this partnership represents the natural evolution of a path towards addressing issues of biodiversity and protecting the environment and natural heritage, which has characterized the company in its eighty years of building infrastructure, even in delicate ecosystems such as crop areas and parks. In the last ten years alone, the company has carried out environmental restorations in Italy for over 2,000 kilometers, reforestations for over 200 kilometers and crop care for over 1,300 kilometers. The project is also consistent with the company’ s commitment to advance the energy transition and is part of the definition of Snam’s ESG strategy, which will be announced next November.

Fabrizio Palermo, CEO of CDP, commented: “The fight against climate change is a top priority today. We need concrete actions to guarantee a sustainable future. Sustainability is one of the pillars of our Industrial Plan and CDP is engaged on multiple fronts, both nationally and internationally, with measures dedicated to the development of energy efficiency and renewable energies and to combat hydrogeological instability. In November 2019, CDP was the first Italian financial institution to be accredited to the Green Climate Fund, the financial instrument promoted by the United Nations, and is strengthening its activity on adaptation and mitigation projects to allow Italy to affirm its strategic positioning at an international level within the Climate Agenda. The establishment of this company with Snam shows how our strategy can lead to concrete and innovative projects for sustainable growth”.

Marco Alverà, CEO of Snam, commented: “With this new initiative we want to make a concrete tool available to the country’s system and businesses, which will allow it to achieve its decarbonisation goals of 2050, responding to the increasing need at global level to counteract climate change through afforestation projects. We will leverage Snam’s ability to build, which has a long experience of environmental restoration in the territories, combined with new skills in urban forestry to support energy efficiency projects. In the past ten years alone, we have reforested over 1 million trees. This project with CDP further strengthens our commitment to the energy transition and testifies to the ever greater integration of environmental, social and governance factors into our corporate strategies”.

CDP AND SNAM TO FOUND A BENEFIT CORPORATION DEDICATED TO REFORESTATION AND CO2 ABSORPTION IN ITALY, WITH THE AIM OF PLANTING 3 MILLION TREES BY 2030