Rome is, today one of the few metropoles in the world, that can boast a water resource of excellent quality right from its source.
The fight against climate change, the efficent use of resources and the promotion of circular economy are the most important commitments we have made to reduce our environmental impact.
We are committed to combating climate change because we acknowledge its effects on the environment and people and we want to help build a common better future.
The management of this area is overseen by the Board of Directors, the Chairperson, the CEO and the work of the Committees.
A Risk Management and Control System has been implemented with the full involvement of the managers of the Group, and integrates the risks arising from climate change into its risk/opportunity analysis.
The most important objectives we set ourselves are the following:
For many years, we have taken part in the CDP questionnaire, monitoring and publishing information on our emissions and initiatives taken to reduce them. In the 2020-2021 period, we also carried out a project to align with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure. This activity led us to carry out our first climate scenario analysis - involving the Group’s main companies - and allowed us to develop our knowledge of the different aspects related to climate change and refine our ability to manage risks (both physical and transition) and related opportunities. At the end of the project, we have prepared our first Climate Disclosure.
Carbon Disclosure Project
Acea’s inclusion in the “leadership” category of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) ranking has been confirmed, with a score of “A-”. CDP is an independent non-profit organisation that offers investors a system for measuring company policies and performances in connection with Climate Change. The rating, which is established on a scale from D (minimum) to A (maximum), is based on the assessment of actions undertaken in this area. The positioning achieved by Acea confirms its constant and growing commitment to the fight against climate change, via an increasingly sustainable business model in support of the energy transition.
We consider protection of the community to mean a reduction of impacts on the natural environment generated by operating processes and infrastructures, the conservation of water resources and the commitment to safeguarding biodiversity. With this in mind, we operate according to environmental management systems and perform a careful and continual monitoring of meaningful indicators.
Rome is, today one of the few metropoles in the world, that can boast a water resource of excellent quality right from its source.
We take the utmost care to safeguard our water resource.
Just in the territory managed by Acea Ato 2 there are 14 of our main supply sources, located in vast fully protected areas, which we are committed to preserving.
From an efficiency and continual improvement perspective, in recent years we have integrated our environmental monitoring and surveillance operations with satellite systems, which enable us to more precisely identify the areas subject to morphological anomalies by comparing the images captured from space several months apart. Our upgrading of the said control system via the internalisation of our change detection process, alongside additional inspections, enabled us in 2021 to detect 65 situations of abuse.
Protection of the natural environment is also linked to the energy distribution business. Areti, the Group Company that manages this business, in collaboration with the competent authorities, is committed to mitigating the impact on birdlife of the high and medium voltage overhead lines. Thanks also to the transformation and modernisation of the distribution network, the territorial protection index, calculated as a percentage of the underground high voltage (HV) network of the total HV lines in operation (overhead and underground), has improved and, in 2021, amounted to 47%.
Acea has launched a biomonitoring project involving 150,000 bees to assess environmental quality in the area around the San Vittore del Lazio waste-to-energy plant.
Acea's efficient use of natural resources translates into various areas of action: the reduction of leaks in the water and energy networks, improved efficiency in internal use the raising of awareness among users and residents and promotion of a circular economy with regard to waste.
The Group’s main water companies carry out a constant monitoring of distribution network efficiency and leak detection, by applying a methodology based on water districts, making it possible to optimise the operating pressures and reduce the lost volumes. Overall, in December 2021 Acea Ato 2 created 581 measurement districts of a total 11,500 km of distribution network. The activity consisted of surveys, flow and pressure measurements, map production, user analysis and water balancing, creation of measurement stations, installation of shut-off and regulation devices, mathematical modelling and leak detection activities. Acea Ato 5 also continued its analysis of the network structures, the creation of water districts and remotely controlled flow meters also functional to leak detection and recovery activities; in 2021, the new districts created amounted to 97 and concerned 588 km of network. Gori implements network remediation and water leak reduction interventions by regulating the pressure system, thanks to the installation of dedicated valves, and each year carries out systematic leak detection activities on the water networks; in 2021 this operation concerned 1,676 km of network. AdF has undertaken an intense activity of systematic leak detection on its water networks, during the year inspecting around 3,000 km of distribution network, with district metering covering about 90% of the distribution network. Lastly, Gesesa continued to work on the replacement of some pipelines, implementation of remote monitoring, application of a water leak reduction system and reduction of the operating pressures in the network.
Management of the Rome and Formello electricity distribution network is characterised by a continuous improvement in performances, with particular attention to energy efficiency. The initiatives to reduce grid losses include the reclassification of medium voltage levels from 8.4 kV to 20 kV and the installation of MV/LV transformers with very low losses; in 2021, the electricity distribution network losses came to around 6% of the total energy fed into the grids, in line with the previous year.
The initiatives undertaken were also aimed at improving the resilience of the networks and optimising their management, in the name of technological innovation. To this effect, in 2021 we went ahead with our Plan to modernise the high-voltage electricity distribution grid (150kV), with the demolition of lines and removal of 48 pylons and the completion or commencement of network reconfiguration and optimisation interventions, leading to a reduction in environmental impact and improvement in the service.
As regards energy generation, having completed the modernisation and efficiency enhancement of the hydroelectric power plants, in 2021 Acea carried out a revamping of the Sant’Angelo power station. Moreover, the Group started a project at the Tor di Valle thermoelectric power plant for the installation of another two 1.5 MWe internal combustion engines, which will be powered by biogas originating from the adjacent Roma Sud treatment plant; Acea will continue to increase its production of electricity from renewable energy sources, solar in particular, with the objective of reaching an installed capacity of 747 MW by 2024, as envisaged in the 2020-2024 Business Plan.
Service continuity: the central systems for remote control
We are committed to overseeing the Group’s IT security, guaranteeing the correct working of all our infrastructures. From 2019, with regard to strengthening the central systems for remote control, we focused in particular on the question of cyber security: we put in place guidelines and procedures to ensure operational continuity and, at the same time, enhanced the level of awareness and knowledge in such respect, also thanks to dedicated professionals. Moreover, we are in the process of setting up a Security Operation Centre (SOC) and raising the level of IT security as regards the primary and secondary cabins. In 2021 the cybersecurity risk analysis programme was launched on all Acea’s services, for the identification, measurement and management of risks due to cybersecurity threats.
We consider our environmental services business, and waste management in particular, to be a sector with great potential.
We are currently working on waste recovery projects with various applications:
The Acea Smart Comp project
Our “Smartcomp” project continues and, again in 2021, engaged us in the development of an effective kilometre zero waste management model based on a widespread and distributed network of mini-plants for organic fraction treatment. In fact, during the year we presented the new version of Acea SmartComp, which allows the local transformation of wet waste into compost, via a process which in 90 days produces ready-to-use fertiliser.
The advantages of the project are both economic – in terms of lower waste collection and treatment costs – and environmental – in view of the containment of CO2 emissions associated with transport logistics.
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