Mitigation of environmental and health and safety effects

Accident prevention and environmental protection are areas of management in which the creation of value is linked to the ability to mitigate the most significant impacts caused by the Company’s business activities. Safeguarding the physical integrity of staff and natural capital is an integral part of the definition of Snam's corporate policies and investment decisions.

On these issues, Snam adopts specific certified management systems, with the aim of overseeing the corporate processes and activities which have the biggest impacts, linked to the fight against climate change, the reduction of energy consumption and the protection of nature and biodiversity.

With regard to the environmental protection, Snam spent approximately 105.7 million euro (92.1 million euro for investments and 13.6 million euro for operating costs).

On the health and safety of workers, Snam spent approximately 31.6 million euro.

Management systems

Snam also continued its commitment to expanding and maintaining management systems that cover certain specific issues such as health and safety at work, the environment and the quality of services provided. To this end, in 2018, the new HSEQ Integrated Management System Manual was published, which, in line with the previous versions, defines the function and application of the HSEQ Management System and applies to all Group companies. In addition to this, as part of the “Lean Simplify” project, all the company HSEQ procedures have been updated and revised.

Snam took all steps necessary to maintain its existing certifications and extend the scope to new companies, including the audits performed in-house and by external personnel. 27 auditors, also qualified for external audits also, work within Snam.

237 audits were conducted in 2018 (95 of which by an external team). In order to verify the effectiveness of the management systems adopted, 54 health, safety and environment audits were also carried out on contractors working on sites. Please note that during the year, the certifications ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 were extended to cover the companies Snam4Mobility and Cubogas.

Prevention of accidents and protection of health

The Snam Group has a long-term commitment to developing and promoting the protection of health and safety at its workplaces, as part of an ongoing process to improve its HSE performance in accordance with its Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Policy.

When managing health and safety issues, it is essential to implement standardised management systems developed and maintained in accordance with the OHSAS 18001 standard. Specifically, Snam’s Worker Health and Safety Management System aims to carry out strategic guidance, coordination and monitoring for the Group’s operating companies.

An awareness-raising initiative, the “Contractor Safety Trophy” is dedicated to contractors with the aim of increasing suppliers’ attention to such matters. In particular, the performance of the companies is assessed through the collection and analysis of specific indicators (such as accident rates and negative feedback on the relevant topics). In 2018, the trophy, for the 2017 results, was awarded for the second year running to Max Streicher, a company specialised in the building of energy infrastructure and construction of gas pipelines.

Climate change and energy efficiency

Snam contributes towards the fight against climate change starting from its energy choices: in 2018, 96.4% of the Company’s energy needs were covered by the use of natural gas.

The main greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted in the atmosphere by the Snam’s activities are methane (CH₄), the main component of natural gas, and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Methane emissions arise from the release of natural gas into the atmosphere and are generated by the normal plant operation, by operations to connect new gas pipelines and the maintenance thereof, or by accidental events occurring on infrastructure, whereas the CO₂ produced is directly correlated with fuel consumption. In 2018, the contribution deriving from the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in cooling plants was also assessed.

Snam intends to develop projects to strengthen its operational excellence and thus contribute to the containment of climate-altering emissions. The company has in fact set targets to reduce its emissions of natural gas and methane from the transmission, storage and regasification of LNG. The targets set involve the reduction, as compared with 2016 values, respectively of 15% by 2022 and 25% by 2025. In order to achieve these objectives, an investment plan has been implemented that will allow the Company to maintain and develop various projects, including the 33% annual recovery programme of natural gas through to at least 2022, with respect to all potential emissions deriving from maintenance activities.

To pursue these objectives the investment plan includes:

• gas recompression interventions in the transport network and compression plants;
• replacement of pneumatic actuators powered by natural gas in transport and storage infrastructures;
• operations to improve the energy efficiency of the gas turbine and reduction cabins;
• installation of more efficient heat generators;
• installation of LED lamps for network lighting systems.

In the gas compression stations, works have begun on installing the trigeneration plant in Gallese; this system will allow for the self-production of electricity of plants with heat recovery to support the plant’s heating and cooling utilities. The systems are listed as high-efficiency cogeneration plants.

A further contribution is made to reducing the carbon footprint by the use of electricity produced from renewable sources and photovoltaic plants owned by the Company, which in 2018 accounted for 37% of total electricity consumed.

Snam4Mobility, again with a view to limiting emissions, only planned on using electricity produced from renewable sources for the function of the CNG plants envisaged in the development plan.

Various initiatives taken by the company in 2018, such as the reduction of natural gas emissions, the production of electricity by photovoltaic plants, the purchase of green electricity, the installation of LED lamps in lieu of other lighting bodies, smart working, have made it possible, globally, to avoid the release into the atmosphere of a total of 154,800 tonnes of CO₂.

Environmental monitoring and restoration in the development of the gas pipeline network

Snam considers the protection of the natural value of the territories affected by its activities to be particularly important. This is why when developing its works, it implements the most appropriate design choices to minimise impacts on biodiversity. Once the infrastructures have been completed, the Company restores the environmental and monitors as per the collaboration with the entities appointed to this end.

The objective of the vegetation restoration, in particular reforestation, is not merely to reconstitute forest areas but to reconstitute the landscape in general and to revive the biological functionality of vegetated areas, understood especially in their role of habitats for the fauna with specific biodiversity characteristics. Restoration and reforestation is followed by the implementation of “cultivation treatments”, i.e. the care and maintenance, for a period of at least five years, of the plants which have been planted.

Environmental monitoring projects regard the paths of a number of pipelines that affect, albeit only marginally, natural areas of high value in terms of wildlife and ecology. These projects are intended to verify the renaturalisation process of the area affected by work, based on a comparison of the conditions after the restoration (“post operam”) and the original conditions (“ante operam”). Monitoring is normally performed for the most significant habitats identified in the design phase.