Today, sustainability is no longer an accessory variable, but an indispensable condition for the very survival of companies. Regulatory pressure, growing stakeholder attention and the urgency of environmental problems have in fact contributed to making this challenge particularly complex, imposing a rethinking not only of production processes, but also of organisational models. The aim is to combine economic efficiency, innovation and the social and environmental impact of one’s choices, in a balance that is anything but obvious. And it is here that, for companies, a strategic model such as the satellite model, which envisages the creation of autonomous companies but linked to the parent company, asserts itself: an approach that allows new solutions and new businesses to be experimented with, reducing risks and at the same time maintaining a unified long-term corporate vision.
Satellite is sustainable
The satellite model makes it possible to accelerate the development of new businesses by creating autonomous entities with dedicated governance and greater freedom of action. In other words, this means guaranteeing the possibility of exploring emerging markets, or innovative technologies, without ‘burdening’ the central structure and exposing it entirely to the risk of initiatives still in the experimental phase.
This approach, in practice, can provide many advantages: for example, it allows new solutions to be tested in different sectors with measurable environmental and social impacts; it also creates a favourable context for the creation of partnerships and contamination with external expertise, which are fundamental elements for tackling complex transitions such as energy and digital; and again, it allows development to be accelerated in new areas without losing the focus on activities traditionally carried out by the company. In short, from this perspective, ‘satellite’ companies are not mere operational extensions, but represent true laboratories of sustainable innovation, capable of orienting the company from which they derive towards horizons of sustainability that would otherwise be more difficult to achieve.
The Eni model
A virtuous example, in our country, of the adoption of the satellite model is that of Eni: the company’s strategy, as part of its commitment in the field of energy transition, is in fact based on the creation of independent companies – which, remaining an integral part of Eni, benefit from it in terms of technologies, know-how and services – capable of accessing the capital market with their own autonomy, so as to be able to finance their own growth by turning to specialised investors.
By doing so, the company is able to accelerate the development of new high-potential businesses, while maintaining solidity in its traditional activities.
Moreover, by opening up to new investments, the model adopted by the company makes it possible to reduce the absorption of capital needed to support new business, while safeguarding shareholder remuneration, which continues to be fed by the free cash flow generated by traditional activities.
“Satellites are the way we solve the energy transition equation,” explained Francesco Gattei, Eni’s Chief Transition & Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager: “taking care of new business and traditional business, growing in both while ensuring continuity and security of sources, financial availability, and, at the same time, pursuing all business objectives“. Among the satellites in the field of energy transition, the model is operational with Enilive – dedicated to sustainable mobility and the production of biofuels – and Plenitude – for the production of electricity from renewables – which have seen the entry of new funds or new partners in the capital of the companies. A similar path will be extended to Eni’s activities in biochemistry, with Novamont, and in CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) with the launch of a new satellite company. Similarly, the satellite model is being applied in geographic areas with a strong upstream vocation with reduced emissions: this is the context in which Vår Energi in Norway (the first independent and listed satellite), Azule in Angola and Ithaca in the United Kingdom were born.
In short: facing complex challenges, such as those of the energy transition, requires the adoption of unconventional strategies. Strategies that, as in the case of Eni’s satellite model, if supported by a clear vision, are able to bring advantages on all fronts. And this is how business and the environment can go hand in hand, enabling new opportunities for sustainable development.
