Scaroni (Enel): «China dominates inexperienced provide chains, the EU will react because the USA needs» | EUROtoday

More dedication to decarbonization is required

To speed up decarbonisation – a course of that “requires colossal investments” additionally in electrical energy networks – nonetheless, a lift would even be wanted on the cultural entrance, in response to the president of Enel: “There is a lot of talk about transition, but in reality little is known. There is a widespread belief in living rooms that it is happening and one is surprised when one then discovers that 2023 is the year in which the world consumed the most coal, oil and gas in the history of humanity. Solar and wind meet just 2.4% of global energy consumption, 12% if we talk about electricity (which however is around 20% of total energy), despite having attracted investments of 4 trillion dollars since 2004. The point is that in the meantime, together with well-being, energy consumption has grown.”

Technology helps the transition

Achieving the transition targets for 2030 is nonetheless “technically possible”, in Scaroni's opinion: “The technologies are there and continue to improve, the production capacity, for example to make solar panels or wind turbines, is not lacking and neither are the economic returns , from which consumers also benefit. What we lack is rather a sense of urgency: we should address this issue as an absolute priority, as if we were fighting a war, otherwise we will never achieve the objectives we have set ourselves.”

As for the objective of local weather neutrality, set for 2050, «it’s a very lengthy state of affairs, we can not exclude that there might be decisive technological improvements. We should not neglect nuclear energy, which within the present state of data can’t be performed with out to succeed in web zero. If Italy needs it, it wants to consider it instantly, we must always equip ourselves with at the very least twenty amenities, however the place are the websites to accommodate them?”.

During the debate in Trento there was also room for some considerations on the upcoming European elections, which will take us to the polls on 9 June. The EU's environmental policies have led to protests and some unease that could influence the vote. «It may be that the attitude of the institutions changes – concedes Scaroni – I hope not, because we must continue on the path of decarbonisation, also exploring new terrain».

The enthusiasm with which the outgoing European Commission embraced the challenge of transition, reflects Scaroni, depended «mainly on two reasons. The first is the great weight of green parties in some countries, including Germany: a strong voice, which has been able to make itself heard. The second reason, also very rooted in Germany, is that we were convinced that if we addressed these issues before others we would gain an advantage by equipping ourselves with key technologies and know-how first. But unfortunately this turned out less well than we hoped.”