“The future we want”, which is the document that represents the main output of the Rio+20 Conference in June 2012, reiterates the crucial importance of environmental protection for the sustainable development of the planet.
Environmental protection is a cross-cutting issue associated with green and inclusive growth, the promotion and preservation of biodiversity and the wellbeing of society in general.
The process for defining the SDGs which began following the Rio+20 Conference focuses on these topics, making reference, among other targets, to achievement of the global goal of developing clean energy systems with reduced emissions of climate-altering substances and systems to raise the efficiency of water use.
Source: UN, The Future We Want, 2012.
eni has achieved the target of “zero blow-outs” for ten consecutive years.
Upstream>
In the upstream sector, a reduction in the impact of exploration activities, to which eni has dedicated much of its technological innovation effort, is being achieved by adopting advanced modelling techniques, less invasive technologies and operational procedures to mitigate the potential effects of the sound generated by marine seismic activities.
For 10 consecutive years eni has achieved a “zero blow-outs” level in spite of increasingly difficult operating environments and the growth of offshore operations.
The environmental strategy for production activities differs depending on the maturity of the operating fields. The primary objective of eni’s consolidated operations is to reduce the environmental impact (reducing gas flaring and increasing the re-injection of production water) by building appropriate infrastructures in agreement with local governments. The new projects, right from the design phase, focus instead on integrating maximum energy efficiency, the exploitation of associated gas and minimization of the impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
For more than a decade eni has integrated management of biodiversity and ecosystem services within all its national and international operations and all phases of the project life cycle. The operational sites are assessed, taking into consideration their proximity to areas rich in biodiversity and the presence of species that are at risk of extinction in order to identify priority sites where it is necessary to implement more in-depth assessments. The final stage is the definition of action plans whose objective is to effectively mitigate all possible operational impacts and identify opportunities to make a positive contribution to conserving biodiversity and/or local ecosystem services.
