The first (and controversial) Italian CO2 storage project has begun in Ravenna

The energy multinationals ENI and SNAM have announced that they have started the capture and storage of carbon dioxide emitted by the Casalboretti power plant, in the municipality of Ravenna.The project plans to capture at least 90% of the CO2 produced by the plant - estimated at around 25,000 tonnes per year – and transport it to the offshore platform Porto Corsini Mare Ovest, and then deposit it in an exhausted gas field at 3,000 meters deep.In a press release, ENI declared that this commitment is "consistent" with its desire to position itself as an "operator that facilitates a fair and balanced energy transition", adding that it is "a fundamental contribution to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050".However, no explanation can be found regarding the most recent scientific evidence, which suggest that the actual impact of this strategy on the climate may be more limited than expected and, therefore, still under discussion.

According to the press release issued by ENI, the project is guaranteeing an abatement level of more than 90%, resulting in a concentration of CO2 coming out of the plant's chimney of less than 3%.It's about performances that would place Ravenna CCS as «the first industrial-scale project in the world with such capture efficiency», and to all this we should add the fact that the plant uses electricity from renewable sources, thus avoiding further carbon dioxide emissions.«A project of great importance for decarbonization has become an industrial reality.The capture and storage of CO₂ is an effective, safe and available practice now to reduce emissions from energy-intensive industries whose activities cannot be electrified", he commented Claudio Descalzi, CEO of ENI.In the coming years then, Phase 2 is planned, which involves the development of the plant on an industrial scale and the capacity to store up to 4 million tonnes by 2030 and other research and development projects for the possible reuse of captured carbon dioxide.

However, some explanations are not found in the press release which would be anything but irrelevant, given the strategy chosen.Despite the noble objective of reducing industrial emissions and contributing to the fight against climate change, in fact, CO2 storage (CCS) is a significantly expensive method to implement – especially with regards to capture and transport systems – and this could prove to be a much more unpleasant obstacle than assumed, given that according to a recent scientific research most climate policies have been ineffective precisely due to the absence of price interventions and fiscal policies.Furthermore, the actual impact of the strategy is also still under discussion, given that there is research – such as that of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financials Analysis – who report that carbon capture and storage “is not a climate solution”, and others who highlight how their use is much less efficient than expected.In the end, there is the question regarding safety and long-term sustainability, given that there are scientific studies – including some ducts even by authors belonging to the foundations of ENI itself - who report how, even with very low escape rates, the CO2 released could increase global emissions by several gigatons and how such losses, if not carefully monitored, represent economic and obstacles that they could compromising the very climate objectives pursued from the projects.All issues and questions that are anything but irrelevant, from which however the multinational's press release maintains a distance.

[by Roberto Demaio]