Biography
Marco Alverà, born in New York in 1975, is, since 2016, the Chief Executive Officer of Snam, one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure operators. Counting more than 20 years of experience in the most important Italian energy companies, his training started in 1996 with a Degree in Economics and Philosophy at the London School of Economics. In 1997, he began his professional journey at the London office of Goldman Sachs.
The career of Snam’s CEO has always been driven by a passion for energy and innovation. In 2000, together with other partners, he created Netesi, the first Italian broadband company. His journey continued in 2002, when he joined Enel in the role of Director of the Group Corporate Strategy; in 2004 he then moved on to Wind, where for over a year he held the role of Chief Financial Officer, and where he was also responsible for supervising the company acquisition by Orascom.
In 2005, Marco Alverà joined Eni, the Italian leading company in the energy sector, where he grew into increasingly important managerial roles, from Head of Gas Supply & Portfolio Development to CEO of Eni Trading & Shipping, all the way to Chief Retail Market Gas&Power. After 12 years at Eni, in April 2016 Marco Alverà became Chief Executive Officer of Snam, a company listed in the FTSE MIB index of the Milan Stock Exchange, active in transport, storage and regasification of natural gas,
In addition, since 2016 he is also a member of the General Board of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice; since 2017 he has been the President of GasNaturally, the partnership representing the European gas industry. From 2017 he has also been non-executive chief officer of S&P Global, acompany specialized in financial information and analysis, as well as being an Oxford University Visiting Fellow and Vice President of Fondazione Snam and of the new businesses involved in the energy transition.
In 2019, together with his brother Giorgio and their cousins, Marco Alverà created Fondazione Kenta, a not-for-profit organization founded in memory of their grandmother, Kenta Alverà, who was a writer, art historian and women’s rights activists. The main purpose of the Foundation is to act as a platform to connect people, energies and ideas in support of the arts, culture, environmental sustainability and education.News
The experimentation of Contursi Terme
nytimes.com – Hydrogen as clean fuel of the future: the example starts from Snam and an Italian pasta factory, thanks to the commitment of the company led by the CEO Alverà to the energy transition.
Hydrogen Power
bloomberg.com – Marco Alverà, the CEO who wants Italy to love hydrogen power: as part of an effort to green the economy, hydrogen could supply a quarter of Italy’s energy demand by the middle of the century.
Hydrogen and climate change
ft.com – The EU can use hydrogen to stop climate change and create jobs: Marco Alverà’s op-ed.
Green Energy
Davos 2020
Hydrogen and climate change
The Italian case
The Hydrogen Era
The value of Fairness
Videos
Global "race is on" for hydrogen agenda
Marco Alverà discusses Europe’s green recovery and the potential of hydrogen as a clean energy source at the European House – Ambrosetti Forum.
Marco Alverà | Getting to Zero Coalition at Davos 2020
Marco Alverà, Chief Executive Officer of Snam explains how hydrogen could play an important role in the shift to zero emission fuels, in shipping and beyond.
The surprising ingredient that makes businesses work better
State Conference on the Italian Energy Transition (Ita)
The future of cities
Executive Chat with Bocconi
Leaders & Daughters
The importance of “purpose” for enterprises (Ita)
Energy, hydrogen and surroundings
Fondazione Kenta
Founded in 2019 by the CEO of Snam, Marco Alverà, and his brother Giorgio together with their cousins, the Fondazione Kenta was created in memory of their grandmother, Angelica – Kenta – Alverà, famous for being a women’s rights activists, writer and art historian. In memory of a woman who was capable of combining philosophy, ethics and innovation, Fondazione Kenta was born as a not-for-profit platform to connect people, energies and ideas in support of art, culture, environmental sustainability and education.
The Fondazione Kenta is located in the Isola neighborhood in Milan, in the spaces of the Fabbrica Sassetti, a former wool yarn factory founded in the 1930s. Inside a hidden courtyard in the heart of the capital of Lombardy, alongside defending the neighborhood’s history of craftsmanship, the building also tells the story of the people who worked there: men and women who, in the 1950s, defended Isola by fighting against a planned six-lane motorway that would have destroyed it forever.
With its 4 floors, 19 rooms, a garden and a courtyard making up an area of almost 1,000 square metres, the multifunctional spaces of the Fondazione Kenta include a large room on the first floor for exhibitions, meetings, music and dance performances, a ground floor divided in different workshops, laboratories and rooms dedicated to wellbeing, in addition to a bookshop and rooms for resident artists and students.
The Foundation’s cultural programme was launched in April 2019, during Milan’s Design Week, with Alcova Sassetti, an exhibition of the projects of 20 international designers. Alongside the exhibitions, the initiative also included Q&A sessions and performances of different kinds. The project was the continuation of an experiment started by Alcova in 2018, in the former cake-producing plant COVA & G.
Since September 2019, under the guidance of the Creative Director, Roberto Gerosa, the Foundation has continued to pursue its activities with a programme of initiatives that include art exhibitions, debates and philosophy meetings, wellbeing sessions and projects of educational support for the neighborhood.
Books
“Generation H” is the volume written by Marco Alverà on the potential of hydrogen in the fight against climate change, published by Mondadori Electa.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe and has a great potential in advancing the energy transition. Hydrogen can act both as an energy source and as a storage agent, and thanks to this dual role it is the ideal element to power the energy system of the future, ensuring its environmental sustainability in the fight against climate change.
This view is the cornerstone of the work done by the CEO of Snam, Marco Alverà, who with over 20 years of experience in the energy sector, has developed the skills and research to promote an energy project which envisions a future built on hydrogen. The ideas and results are expanded in his book, Generation H – Healing the climate with hydrogen.
The book, published in English by Mondadori, also includes contributions from experts in the field including Gabrielle Walker, Lord Adair Turner, Baroness Bryony Worthington, Luigi Crema and McKinsey & Company. The vision behind the book stems from the need to find a new instrument to successfully win the fight against climate change.
The energy sources on which we rely today, including wind and solar energy, cannot provide a definitive solution as they are unreliable and too vulnerable to changes in weather. Electricity alone, which currently represents just 20% of the global energy supply, cannot solve the problem. To promote the energy transition – which requires switching from fossil fuels to renewable and clean energy sources and production methods – the solution must be capable of connecting the whole energy system.
Hydrogen can play a key role in this process: “As highlighted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a study presented during the G20 in Osaka – the CEO of SNAM, Marco Alverà, explains – this element has all it takes to become an effective, global and inexpensive solution to support renewable energy and other sources in the commitment to decarbonisation. It can be a vital source to fight climate changes and air pollution and can act as a bridge between the different energy sectors, given that it can be produced using electricity and can be used both as fuel and as source of electrical energy”.
This is the challenge that the so-called “Generation H” will have to face and win, also supported by the opportunity for financial savings that hydrogen provides: “According to the analyses in our book – Alverà explains – the cost of hydrogen from renewable sources can decrease to around $2 per kilogram in 2030 and to $1 in the following years, starting from the current cost of $5. Thanks to this, it would become competitive even without substantial aids to many energy sectors”.
Snam has already started experimenting in this direction, injecting a mix of gas and hydrogen at 5% and 10% in its networks in Contursi Terme (Salerno), which powered two local factories for over one month and set the example for other areas. However, as highlighted in the book, in order to succeed, collective action is required: “We need a global commitment that creates economic opportunities for all citizens by minimizing costs with an equal distribution. – the Snam CEO explains – Then, we need a coordinated effort across all energy sectors”.
And even if it’s not evident, the current context is reason for optimism: “Citizens are increasingly mobilizing, starting from young people – Snam’s CEO explains – and at the same time new technologies are drastically reducing the cost of renewable energies and widening their potential utilizations. The final goal is stopping the utilization of CO2 in industry, transportation and heating through biomethane, capturing carbon dioxide and producing hydrogen from renewable sources”.
“Zhero – The Secret of Water” is the novel written by Marco Alverà for the children of the “Greta Thunberg” generation: a story in which the topic of the environment and the search for a clean energy source blend perfectly with adventure and mystery.
Venice. On a full moon night the members of a secret society gather in an ancient palace. A few street further on, Bepi Galvano, a Physics expert, is about to turn eighty years-old. To celebrate the anniversary, his neighbors, three bright kids, are planning a big party.
During the night, however, the Professor disappears in uncertain circumstances. Perhaps, the enigma of his disappearance involves that mysterious organization, the Lunar Society? In a labyrinth-ridden Venice, three young protagonists are about to face a race against time. The future of humanity could be hidden in the Professor’s latest invention, an incredible machine that can produce green energy from water. Now it’s up to Bepi’s kids to gather his legacy and prevent darkness from falling forever on the world we know.
