Photo: Anatol Rurac | Unsplash
In 2008, the Italian oil company ERG faced a crossroads. Having sold its 49% stake in a Sicilian refinery to Russian oil giant Lukoil just before the markets crashed, it had cash to burn. And it had a fundamental choice to make. The company had always been pragmatic and when it was weighing its options, pragmatism again prevailed. The board agreed with shareholders and CEO Luca Bettonte that the company should concentrate on the fastest-growing segment in the energy sector: renewables. “I can’t say we made the decision because we wanted to save the world,” Bettonte said. “But the idea to go green played a part in it.” What happened in the years to follow was transformative. By 2013, ERG had become Italy’s leading producer of wind energy. It now has installed capacity in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Sweden, making it one of the continent’s top 10 wind companies. In October 2023, ERG divested of its last remaining hydrocarbon asset, with the sale of a combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Sicily. It now calls itself a pure wind and solar energy company. ERG’s wholesale transition from black to green took little over a decade, and with it the company redefined itself: no longer responding to Italy’s demand for oil, it sees itself – in its own words – “inspiring change to power the future.”
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