The dialogue with Associations and NGOs

In November 2008 Amnesty International contacted Eni to announce the preparation of a report on the impact on human rights deriving from petroleum activities in the Niger Delta and to request answers to a series of specific questions. Eni accepted to enter into a dialogue with Amnesty and created an interfunctional working group to manage the situation. In June 2009, coinciding with the publication of the report "Nigeria: Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta", Eni's CEO received a letter formally inviting him to personally oversee the implementation of two recommendations (the recovery of areas affected by oil spills and the sharing with local communities of the figures relating to the impact of operations), as well as indicating his availability to attend a meeting, which was immediately given. Starting from the observations contained in the report, Eni embarked on a path for improvements which is reflected in the application of certain procedures for the identification of socio-environmental impacts of activities and in the commitment to a project for the protection of human rights. The dialogue with the association has been judged positively, not only for the way in which the company has been able to present its position, subsequently included in the association's report, but also for the content of the report itself. At the meeting between the heads of the association and Eni, which took place in February 2010, the Chief Executive accepted the recommendations and made a commitment to continue the relationship.
In particular, Eni is committed with Amnesty International to:

• Oil Spills: completing the recovery (already underway) of sites. Completion of recovery activities is a continuous process on the sites which were subjected to acts of sabotage. In this context, a presentation was made of a new technology that makes in possible to constantly monitor pipelines with the aim of reducing spills and in response to a suggestion by Amnesty to introduce guideline procedures for the identification of external interference (sabotage/vandalism).

• Gas flaring: the Eni E&P flaring down strategy was presented, along with projects underway to outline the technical ways of re-using gas in the production of electricity for domestic use

• the involvement of local communities: a presentation of the instruments (public forums) used by eni to involve local communities in episodes of spillage.

• Health: Eni has indicated its availability to cooperate in the improvement of knowledge in this area, providing the data that it has

On 27 July 2010, a new meeting was organized in Rome in order to inform on the actions undertaken by the Company following the recommendations given by Amnesty International during the meeting held in February.
The Company supplied Amnesty with a dossier containing the new information requested on the progress of the commitments undertaken. During the meeting, Eni communicated the outcome of the Ebocha Early Gas Recovery project, completed in May 2010: the zeroing of gas flaring through recovery and compression of associated gas ( previously flared) at the Ebocha oil center. Amnesty expressed its satisfaction for the relationship established with the Company and for the actions undertaken. Eni confirmed its availability to continue the collaboration with Amnesty on the issues of mutual interest.

At the same time, Eni has outlined a path for dialogue with the Cultural Foundation for Ethical Responsibility. The Foundation, which is one of Eni's stockholder, during the 2009 Annual General Meeting  presented a series of questions concerning Eni's presence in the Congo and received some initial answers. Subsequently, the Foundation asked for details concerning the investments foreseen for tar sands and palm oil. The answers provided by Eni were then included in the official report published in July 2009 by a German NGO, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, entitled "Eni's new investment in tar sands and palm oil in the Congo Basin Huge environmental and social risks with no real improvement in access to energy? , which was followed by another report published in the month of November entitled
" Energy Futures?Eni's investments in in tar sands and palm oil in the Congo Basin ".
Although there was no direct contact with the Böll Foundation, and the other associations that were signatories of the report, Eni decided to enter a dialogue, offering the possibility of a formal meeting at its headquarters to clarify the company's position. The meeting, which was held in December, between the representatives of Eni,  the Foundation for Ethical Responsibility, the World Bank Reform Campaign, the Böll Foundation, and Rencontre pour la paix et les droits de l'homme, allowed Eni to provide information about planned investments and to offer the possibility of ongoing dialogue.
On 29 March 2010 a representative of the AEFJN network contacted the chief executive by letter to request clarification regarding certain recommendations concerning  Eni's presence in Congo, with reference to the report by the Böll Foundation. Eni replied, underlining its availability to continue the dialogue through the organisation of a meeting.

Eni and the Legambiente are collaborating on the " Energythink, il futuro del Pianeta, gli scenari dell'energia " (Energy think, the future of the planet and energy scenarios) project, in the shared conviction that research is an essential element in the development of a future global energy system based on clean, economic and renewable sources.

The aim of the project is to stimulate high-level scientific debate in Italian universities about research in the area of renewables and the emergence of new opportunities, also for employment, in the "green economy". In fact, Italian universities are the ideal place for the development of this project as they represent both the place where training excellence will prepare the researchers of tomorrow, the opportunity to spread independent scientific advances and a forum for exchange and development of the managerial classes of the future.
The first stage of the project involved an international conference entitled " Anche il Sole fa la sua Rivoluzione " (Also the sun is making a revolution) held in the Aula Magna of the Politecnico in Turin on 2 April 2009, with speeches from some of the world's leading experts in solar energy, a clean, free and limitless resource, the large-scale exploitation of which Eni and the Legambiente support, which will crucially depend on the quantity and quality of research and technological effort.
The enthusiastic participation of students and the general public confirmed the validity of the project which, for the second stage, moves south to the University of Salento, which ,at its Lecce centre, was the location for the international conference " Le Bioenergie, una Carica di Risorse Rinnovabili " (Bio-energy: a load of renewable resources) held on 18 March 2010, where issues relating to bioenergy were examined, starting from the current state-of-the-art in research. A series of research projects were also presented by students aimed at promoting the active participation of the universities involved in the initiative.

The third stage will be the conference "Via libera alla mobilità" (A green light for mobility) to be held on 19 April 2011 at the University of Florence in collaboration with the universities of Pisa and Siena, and with the support of the City of Florence.