Gas from Russia, what Italy risks in the event of a stop: from heating to cars

Rome, April 4, 2022 – We are not yet in an emergency, with the government denying the transition from the pre-alert phase to the alarm phase, antechamber of the state of emergency for the Italian natural gas system. And therefore, in a chain, also the supply of electricity, about 50% of which is produced with gas. But we would reach the emergency if, with the worsening of the war in Ukraine, the next European sanctions against Russia included the heaviest blow, the blocking of gas supplies. A blow that would not only hurt Putin, forced, explains Roberto Bianchini, director of the Climate Finance Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic and partner of Ref Ricerche, to burn the gas that he would no longer be able to sell us, but also to Italy. Because it will not be easy, indeed impossible, to replace in a few months and in view of next winter, adds Davide Tabarelli, president of Nomisma Energia, the 29 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, just under 40% of our annual consumption (76) . To prepare for the cold season, storage is expected to start as early as April 1, but held back by the current record level of gas prices. The austerity risk Without Russian gas, Italy cannot fail to end up in an emergency, allowing the government to make drastic decisions on consumption cuts as happened in 1973 or, sporadically, Tabarelli recalls, with the blackouts controlled for electricity overconsumption in June and September 2003 So, going back almost forty years, to Sundays on foot or by bike, the early closure of shops and offices, the lowering of the heating temperature, the reduction of speed limits on roads and motorways, the cut of 40 % of public lighting or a ban on the use of illuminated signs. But, mindful of the pandemic and as the International Energy Agency also suggests, Bianchini underlines, we could also think about energy saving …