Eni and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining of Kenya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the decarbonisation process and check climate change through new industrial models
They will jointly conduct feasibility studies to develop waste and residue collection as well as agricultural projects, with the purpose of establishing a wide range of feedstock sources that do not compete with food cycles, to be transformed into bio-fuels and bio-products that might contribute to feed Eni’s bio-refineries in Gela and Venice, Italy. They will also convert Mombasa refinery into a bio-refinery, as well as the construction of a new plant for second-generation bio-ethanol from waste biomass, leveraging on Eni technologies Ecofining e Proesa.
The agricultural development project focuses on the development of sustainable oil crop cultivations, low ILUC (indirect land use change) feedstock such as cover crops, castor in degraded lands, croton trees in agro-forestry systems and other agro-industrial co-products.
This initiative will contribute to diversifying Kenya’s energy mix and supporting the overall de-carbonisation process, while also decreasing the Country’s dependence from imports of petroleum products. Other benefits include developing sustainable agricultural activities and circular economy, producing power from renewable sources, fostering the economic competitiveness of the local industry and creating new jobs.
With these initiatives, Eni will fulfil its commitment towards the decarbonisation process and with the Company’s target to become palm-oil free by 2023 and to double bio-refineries capacity to around 2mn tons by 2024.
The agreement contributes to the objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The projects also contribute to the implementation of the Kenya Bioenergy Strategy, Updated Nationally Determined Contribution, Kenya’s National Development Plans, including Kenya Vision 2030.
