If we think about Africa, there is not only the Mattei Plan. There are also decades-long cooperation activities in the energy sector, for example, which push Italy to have a fundamental role in the Mediterranean. Roberta Boniotti, general secretary of MEDENER, the Mediterranean Association of National Agencies for Energy Management, was one of the protagonists in recent days of the third and final edition of the meetMED Week in Hammamet in Tunisia, where the activities of the second project were presented Mitigation Enabling Energy Transition in the Mediterranean Region (meetMED) financed by the EU and developed by MEDENER and the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), an intergovernmental institution between 17 countries of the League of Arab States. The presidency and general secretariat of MEDENER are held by ENEA, the National Agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable development. And engineer Giorgio Graditi, general director of ENEA, has chaired MEDENER since 2019. “Our focus – explains Boniotti – is to support the agencies for energy efficiency and renewables of the member countries, ranging from Portugal and Spain to Lebanon or Jordan, passing through Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. In the second phase of the project, we focused above all on the need to decarbonise buildings, one of the most energy-intensive sectors, and on training. And although our group is made up of very different countries and with different possibilities, we have managed to create a network of professionals capable of intervening and planning practical actions aimed at decarbonisation, the benefits of which will also be felt in the countries of the northern Mediterranean”.
Different countries also from the point of view of energy production.
“In our network there are states such as Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, which are not producing countries, and others such as Algeria and Libya, which produce ‘oil and gas’. In these countries the concepts of energy saving and energy efficiency clearly take on a different importance, even if recently, following the international energy crisis, everyone is moving towards the implementation of efficiency actions, based on the principle defined in Europe of ‘ Energy Efficiency First’, for decarbonisation in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East”.
What are the prospects for energy cooperation between Mediterranean countries after this meetMED?
“We are working on the next project phases. Our goal is to extend actions from the national to the local level and to consider support in all the most relevant sectors, such as industry and transport. In addition to supporting country ministries in defining national strategies and policies, it is necessary to act at a local level, supporting cities and municipalities in defining and monitoring their energy and climate action plans (SEAP), with a view to decarbonisation. It is necessary to transfer national strategies to a local level for a concrete impact on the territory. And here I would like to point out the fact that Italy, therefore ENEA, coordinates the Covenant of Mayors at a national level, to which over 5000 Municipalities have joined. The competence at MEDENER level is very specific, as the MEDENER energy agencies of many other countries, including France, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco, are also the national contacts for energy efficiency and decarbonisation policies at the local level ”.
Does the last mile of decarbonization pass right through the mayor, practically?
“Exactly, because the strategies decided at national level must then be implemented. The implementation can be done by local authorities. This is our next collaboration objective, in order to systematize our synergies, exchange ‘best practices’ and find synergistic solutions”.
In times of war, even in the Mediterranean, how much does cooperation help and how much could cooperation help, especially in the future?
“Is critical. In this particular moment of international crisis, especially at the European and Mediterranean level, with the ongoing wars, our collaboration is fundamental because dialogue promotes peace, promotes understanding, promotes cooperation in the energy field. Actions for the energy transition towards a green economy in the Mediterranean are of fundamental importance, especially at such a critical moment due to the conflicts that currently exist in the region….”
Which sometimes are also due to energy…
“Above all. And therefore the attempt to implement renewable solutions and energy efficiency interventions is relevant for the energy balance of all countries in the region. Given the abundance of renewable sources on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the southern region could become a net exporter of energy overall. There are also very ambitious plans for collaboration at the Mediterranean level between the north shore and the south shore for the purposes of a green economy in the future, producing energy from renewable sources in North Africa or the Middle East and transferring it to European countries in Europe to satisfy our needs.”
How is Italy seen, what role can it have in the Mediterranean?
“Italy has a fundamental role in the Mediterranean, for geographical and cultural reasons and we can also see this reflected at the level of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). The three UPM energy platforms for the energy transition in the region are the Gas Platform managed by OME with Eni as president, the Electricity Market Platform – represented by MED-TSO, Transmission System Operators, managed by TERNA, and by MED-REG, i.e. the regulators of the Mediterranean, managed by ARERA, and obviously the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Platform represented by MEDENER, managed by ENEA and RCREEE”.
So is Italy central not only geographically, but also operationally and strategically?
“Operationally, strategically and I would also say on a cultural level: all the countries in the North Africa and Middle East areas consider, as can be seen from the leadership of these platforms, Italy as a very important point of reference on a geographical level but also for our cultural closeness to the countries”.
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