Eni and partners to build new open digital platform for energy transition players

Italian oil and gas giant Eni, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Google Cloud are building a new open digital platform supporting sustainability in the industrial supply chain for companies committed to the energy transition.

The move comes on the back of the Italian player Eni’s efforts to transform into an energy company focused on a ‘just energy transition’.

With that in mind, Eni has already overhauled its business and created two business units, one focused on oil and gas and the other one focused mainly on renewable energy.

Eni has also set up a joint venture company together with Norwegian energy investor HitecVision, with the offshore wind being the first item on the to-do list of the newly established business in which the Italian oil & gas major holds a 69.6 per cent stake.

Furthermore, Eni and Saipem this month entered into a collaboration for decarbonization projects in Italy in a push to reduce carbon intensity and achieve CO2 reduction targets.

As the latest development, Eni on Wednesday announced its collaboration with BCG and Google Cloud.

Eni said that, while it will start from the energy world, the platform will also progressively extend to all industrial sectors.

As explained by Eni, the platform will allow all players in the energy sector, throughout the value chain, to share their experiences in sustainability, growth plans, and information in compliance with the existing regulations.

The idea stems from the common interest of the three companies to support a path of energy transition and sustainability in the industrial sectors.

Each of the partners will bring its own expertise to help develop a collaborative and non-competitive culture to establish better understanding and best practice sharing around sustainability throughout the industrial chain.

Eni will contribute its industrial skills, the quality of its supply chain, and its strategic commitment to a fair and sustainable energy transition.

BCG will bring its strategic angle on ESG objectives, a valuation and growth model and the value proposition for the platform.

Google Cloud will contribute its competency in cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence.

Open-es will allow all suppliers involved in the energy transition to make the most of their experience and best practices in sustainability, sharing them with the participating companies and grasping new opportunities for business and value creation.

Open-es will be open to all players in the energy sector and in the industrial supply chain, from large groups to small and medium businesses, to start-ups and any service providers interested in accelerating the energy transition.

Every participating company will be able to interact on the platform both as a supplier and as a customer, depending on the role they play in the industrial chain, enabling the entire ecosystem and creating a space for real collaboration and growth.

It will be free and independent, with initial development powered by Eni. It will be made available to every company, with certification models developed by independent bodies.

Each company will be able to make its information and experience available in a controlled and secure way, and only grant access to authorized resources.

Eni emphasized that, as part of its just transition targets, Open-es platform will push it further along the strategic path of getting suppliers involved in its decarbonization process.

According to Eni, the platform will also take a concrete approach with an industrial slant and several distinctive features.

These include Information sharing: the platform aims to be a single point for sharing information on sustainability and a go-to source for benchmarks and statistics. This information will also be certified through mechanisms accepted by the network.

A simple model, with an incremental approach, will be used to evaluate suppliers’ sustainability performance and, following a gap analysis, a development plan will be suggested for each participant.

Supply chain and ecosystem mapping: information will be accessible and visible at all levels of the supply chain. Mapping the supply chain is one of the platform’s key objectives. It will also encourage circular economy principles and mechanisms, taking into account that the new consumption models pass through a review of the supply chain.

It will therefore involve all levels of the supply chain and provide development services for suppliers, which helps the country’s economy.

Openness and integrability: the platform will be open to anyone who wants to help make the supply chain more sustainable (service providers, financial institutions, training consultants, players of the circular economy and so on), with the objective of helping companies fill their sustainability gaps.

Incentive mechanisms: finally, easy to use collaboration tools and gamification techniques will be used to help identify opportunities for partnerships and foster an exchange of best practices on sustainability.

Methods specific to social networks will also be used such as evaluations and interactions between participants.