ROME. On the occasion of World Earth Day, Terna, the company that manages the national electricity transmission grid, is launching its new CO2 reduction plan: by 2030 it is committed to cutting its polluting emissions by 30% compared to 2019 levels. Which means about 460 thousand tons of carbon dioxide less in the atmosphere per year.
The company, in line with the provisions of the Paris Agreement, has adopted what is called a Science-Based Target (SBT) and is committed to reducing the emissions of its activities, for an ecological transition towards a low carbon economy. . The “science-based” plan – presented with the support of the consulting firm Carbonsink – specifically concerns the acceleration of investments for the development of the electricity grid to favor the full integration of renewable energy sources and reduce grid losses , the activity for the efficiency of electricity and energy consumption, the containment of the losses of climate-altering gases used in some plants, the cutting of the emissions of the company fleet and in general those related to the mobility of employees. Furthermore, the company has decided to initiate environmental protection and enhancement interventions, including tree planting programs on the Italian territory in collaboration with the company AzzeroCO2 as well as a circular economy project targeting 2030.
Currently, only 10 Italian companies out of over a thousand globally have signed an SBT with validated objectives. All of this materializes in the 2021-2025 Business Plan, in which Terna has foreseen € 8.9 billion of investments for the development and modernization of the national electricity grid, the highest level ever foreseen by Terna for our country. The targets are divided into four dimensions (Human Resources, Stakeholders and Territory, Integrity, Responsibility and Transparency and the Environment) divided into 14 objectives which include over 120 activities distributed over the entire period of the Plan.
In the current pandemic crisis scenario, Terna has recently renewed its commitment to the 10 Principles of the Global Compact and the 17 SDGs of the UN, strengthening its central role as director and enabler of the Italian energy system, the main reality capable of accompanying the country towards achieving the European objectives of “net zero emissions” by 2050. A commitment also certified by the confirmation, for the third consecutive year, of the first world place in the Electric Utilities sector of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the recognition by Seal (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement & Leadership) Business Sustainability Awards among the 50 most sustainable companies globally. Terna’s strategy continues with the commitment to increasingly minimize the visual and landscape impact of electricity infrastructures through the use of innovative solutions and the removal over the course of the Plan of approximately 500 km of lines made obsolete by new development investments of the network.