Infrastructure sustainability

When developing new installations, Snam addresses:

• technical and economic feasibility criteria
• environmental compatibility and safety assessments

Assessments of the impact on the surrounding environment concern all phases of a project’s lifecycle: location, design, execution, operation and decommissioning. These assessments are carried out as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), following which the administrations issue the necessary construction permits.

When developing the gas pipeline network, during the design phase the route is selected from a number of alternatives, seeking to avoid or keep to a minimum the sections running through areas of significant natural or cultural interest, archaeological areas, geologically unstable areas, anthropised areas or those in which new residential settlements are planned.

In the construction phase, procedures and technologies consistent with technical feasibility are used, which reduce the interference with the surrounding environment, such as: reducing the size of the work area, minimising temporary worksite infrastructure and using trenchless execution techniques (tunnels and microtunnels) as alternatives to traditional excavation.

Once the construction phase is complete, a thorough environmental restoration operation is carried out to restore the land to its original condition, and subsequently, in the decommissioning phase, the infrastructure is removed in agreement with the relevant authorities. In some cases, in order to safeguard the reconstituted biodiversity of the area, the possibility of leaving the inactive pipes underground is assessed, thus avoiding additional worksite activities. Perfect examples of environmental restoration can be found in the section Stories from the regions and in the Sustainable Paths publications.