Author: adigiuseppe

Brussels, February 18^th 2019 – Dan Pantilie, CEO of Distrigaz Sud Retele (Romania), Gabriel Sousa, CEO of Galp Gás Natural Distribuição (Portugal), Edouard Sauvage, CEO of GRDF (France), Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas (Italy) and Nuria Rodriguez Peinado, CEO of Nedgia (Spain) met Dominique Ristori, Director General for Energy to the European Commission, to discuss how natural and renewable gas can contribute to decarbonize the European economy.

Newly-founded as a European association, GD4S – Gas Distributors for Sustainability calls for a better acknowledgment of innovative gas solutions and existing gas distribution infrastructure in the European decarbonization vision.

The CEOs welcomed the EU Long-Term emission reduction strategy and recalled that the energy mix of the future needs several pillars, including gas, to ensure balance and resilience. Gas energy carrier and distribution grids have indeed key advantages:

• ability to store huge amount of renewable energy and redeliver it during daily or seasonal peak;
• 2 million km of existing grid that are a cost-effective, ready-to-use and low-disruption tool to connect local renewable energy producers to local customers throughout Europe.

Gas distribution grids are a unique and already available European asset that thanks to renewable gas can be used to decarbonize the European economy. Therefore, GD4S calls the Commission to put sector coupling at the centre of its strategy, to effectively combine the benefits of both electricity and gas.

Recalling their commitments in helping the EU to fulfil its climate objectives and the energy efficiency as first principle, the five CEOs have emphasised that gas is an efficient and affordable solution to energy transition, especially in regions with most economic difficulties. Other energy sources, with a higher carbon content and a lower efficiency, should be reduced in order to reach the energy and climate objectives. It’s a way to promote a circular economy.

Regarding the expected revision of the internal gas market in 2020, the CEOs emphasized key requests to allow DSOs to participate in the building of a greener, more decentralized and digitalized network:

• The creation of a specific EU Gas DSO entity to guarantee the equal representation of gas and electricity in the construction of European rules, working closely with the EU electricity DSO entity on several subjects, such as cybersecurity or sector coupling;
• The introduction of renewable gas objectives to accelerate the greening of the gas network: a general binding 2030 objective for the EU and indicative for Member States to integrate renewable gas in the EU gas network, accompanied by sectorial indicatives objectives for heating, cooling and transports would be key drivers for the development of clean gases.

GD4S believes in the potential of renewable gas as a credible solution for the future of the EU energy system and its decarbonization.

The Gas Distributors for Sustainability (GD4S coalition), brings together the five largest gas distribution system operators (DSOs) in France, Italy, Spain, Romania and Portugal. Together we have 86% of gas vehicles in the EU and our companies represent 25 million customers in Europe. Together, we are committed to participate in the EU clean energy and clean mobility and we aim at raising awareness on the potential of natural gas and biogas.

Contact – | contact@gd4s.eu

Milan, 27 December 2018 – Italgas, leader in gas distribution in Italy and Europe, has obtained UNI ISO 37001:2016 “anti-corruption” certification for the holding company Italgas S.p.A. and its subsidiary Italgas Reti S.p.A.

The certification, which was established on a voluntary basis and issued by the independent body DNV-GL, required a long and thorough audit process of the management system for the prevention and contrast of corruption, which recognized the solidity of a business model inspired by the principles of integrity, sustainability and transparency towards all stakeholders.

Italgas’ CEO, Paolo Gallo, commented on obtaining the certification, noting that “for a company that operates in more than 1,700 municipalities and with 7.5 million users served, the fight against corruption must be an unavoidable element of daily activity. And this certification represents a further confirmation of the Italgas Group’s commitment to supporting legality and transparency in the performance of all operational activities and a demonstration of great responsibility towards the market and all stakeholders”.

Cittaducale (Rieti), December 20, 2018 – The first computer room with 25 computers donated by Italgas is now available to the students of the Galilei Comprehensive Institute of Cittaducale. It is the result of Italgas’ commitment to support schools in the municipalities of central Italy affected by the earthquake just a few days after signing the agreement with the Government’s Extraordinary Commissioner for the earthquake in central Italy.

Today another 165 computers – of the 1,500 destined for the most affected territories in the Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria regions – have been delivered to the Territorial School Office in Rieti, which will assign them to the institutes already identified for the creation of new computer classrooms.

The meeting with the students was attended by the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Government, Piero Farabollini and the Head of Institutional Relations and Regulatory Affairs of Italgas, Nunzio Ferrulli, as well as the Mayor of Cittaducale, Leonardo Ranalli, the Deputy Mayor of Cantalice, Claudio Baldini, and the manager of the Regional School Office of the Province of Rieti, Giovanni Lorenzini.

In the coming weeks Italgas and the structure of the Extraordinary Commissioner, in collaboration with the Regional School Offices and the mayors of the municipalities in the area, will identify the other schools that will receive personal computers.

“Donating computer classrooms is a concrete way, in line with the sensitivity and expectations of young people, to contribute to the return to normality which is made of memory as well as perspectives – says the Commissioner for Reconstruction Piero Farabollini – These PCs are not a drop in the ocean because they will not only bring the children of the earthquake areas back in contact with the world, but also to give adequate technological support to that knowledge without which one does not become great”.

For the Italgas Group, the activity is part of the wider framework of interventions that the company, in its bicentennial history, has always addressed to the territories and communities in which it operates. In fact, in the four regions affected by the initiative, Italgas has planned investments of over 120 million euros for the maintenance and safety of gas distribution networks.

“For those who have experienced the drama of an earthquake – commented Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo – the time factor is a determining factor. For this reason, just as we have always worked to mitigate the inconvenience caused by seismic tremors, this time too, with the delivery of these first 190 computers, we wanted to give a concrete follow-up to the commitment made. As a service company operating in and for the territory, we want to do our part to continue to contribute to the growth and social and cultural development of communities. Today we start from the Galilei Institute and we count on proceeding just as quickly for the schools of the other municipalities involved”.

Rome, December 5, 2018 – Italgas signed today, during a press conference held at the Chamber of Deputies, an agreement with the Government’s Extraordinary Commissioner for the earthquake in Central Italy to donate 1,500 computers to secondary schools in the earthquake-stricken municipalities of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria,

At the signing of the deed between the Extraordinary Commissioner, Piero Farabollini, and the CEO of Italgas, Paolo Gallo, the Hon. Tullio Patassini, deputy from the Marche region, and the Deputy Vice President of ANCI, Hon. Roberto Pella.

In the coming weeks Italgas and the Commissarial structure, in collaboration with the mayors of the municipalities in the area, will identify the schools that will receive the personal computers.

The Italgas Group has always been close to the territory and, since the beginning of its industrial history, has contributed to the growth and social and cultural development of the communities in which it operates.

The initiative signed today is in fact the first step of a wider plan aimed at local realities that will start next year and will involve the municipalities in which the Group operates. Moreover, in the areas affected by the earthquake, in addition to what has already been done in previous years, Italgas plans to invest over 120 million euros in the maintenance and safety of gas distribution networks, especially with a view to preventing the consequences of earthquakes.

“The document signed today – commented Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo – is a testimony to the great attention we have always paid to the local communities in which we operate. In the municipalities affected by the earthquakes we have been working from the outset to contain the difficulties resulting from the seismic tremors. The work carried out in Ussita, Camerino and many other municipalities has allowed citizens to get gas back into their homes as quickly as possible, reducing inconvenience to a minimum. By donating these computers we will contribute to the creation of computer classrooms in the schools of those territories, thus offering a concrete tool to boys and girls who legitimately aspire to the right level of training without being forced to long transfers to attend the equipped schools of the neighboring regions”.

“The earthquake not only crumbles places but also identities,”stressed the Government’s Extraordinary Commissioner, Piero Farabollini. “To rebuild, therefore, is also to regenerate the sociality and prospects of our communities in the Apennines, which have been the cradle of civilisation and the civil and moral history of Italy. Through the Italgas donation, the synthesis between memory and the future is realized for thousands of young people and their families. It does so through the medium that connects par excellence and that we want to consider as a symbol of that network made up of technicians, administrators, politicians and companies that embody the will to do and do well so that the children who will be connected to the world with these tools will remain deeply connected to their mother earth”.