Enel released online “A Journey into Enel Group Circular Economy: Strategy, projects and results”, a document reporting the Group’s current efforts, through initiatives and projects, in the field of the circular economy, which is now an integral part of its overall strategy. This document delves into a series of enabling actions (such as activities in the field of governance and digitalization) intended to implement a circular development model, that is, one that is not dependent on the consumption of resources, protects the environment by reducing emissions and the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources, promotes the use of renewable resources, and helps to improve people’s quality of life while being economically competitive by innovating and redesigning the value chain.

“With this document, we wanted to explain the challenges, achievements and potential of the Enel Group’s circular transition as simply and clearly as possible,” said Francesco Starace, CEO of the Enel Group. “The circular economy represents a key element for the competitiveness of a company, as it allows businesses to not only free themselves from the consumption of new non-renewable resources, but also to make the most of existing goods and assets, allowing them to be reused in a sustainable way. Enel’s approach to circularity is fully integrated with our decarbonization objectives and translates into concrete actions along the entire value chain, from the initial design and procurement stages to end-of-life management and the recovery of raw materials.”

The document, covering all activities, is divided into three areas:

–              New business models, which describes how models based on circular economy principles are adopted throughout the Group;

–              Raw materials, which focuses on the Group’s circular and sustainable approach to raw materials, with regard not only to forecasting needs and impacts, but also to developing and adopting innovative and circular solutions, in collaboration with its entire ecosystem;

–              City, which details the efforts made by the Group to define a circular city model in collaboration with companies operating in other sectors and institutions, along with the development of new solutions and projects.

In “A Journey into Enel Group Circular Economy”, Enel outlines the various spheres of action of its circular transition, offering practical examples of technologies and projects that the Group has undertaken, which are always driven by innovation. For instance, there is the project to convert the 3Sun photovoltaic module factory in Catania into a Gigafactory. In fact, Enel has signed a financing agreement with the European Commission for this project and is currently looking into the possibility of introducing recycled materials into the production process. Another example of innovation and circularity can be found in the project aimed at finding industrial recycling solutions for electric vehicle batteries, which was launched in Italy in collaboration with other companies as part of the IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest).