VZCZCXRO9864
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHDH RUEHFL RUEHHM RUEHIK
RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHNP RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHROV
RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHTM RUEHTRO RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHRO #0653/01 1601331
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091331Z JUN 09 ZFD
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2194
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES 3841

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 000653 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/PGI FOR D. TESSLER 
EUR/WE FOR C. JESTER AND S. HARTMANN 
EUR/PPD FOR L. PEREZ 
OES FOR J. MIOTKE AND D. NELSON 
NSC FOR C. CONNORS 
DOE FOR J. SHRIER AND J. SKEER 
EPA FOR A. PHILLIPS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ENRG KGHG TRGY KSCA KPAO CH IT
SUBJECT: ITALY PROPOSES LOW-CARBON TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATION WITH 
U.S. IN CHINA, OTHER COUNTRIES 
 
ROME 00000653  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  Summary.  At a May 26 low-carbon technology conference organized 
by the Embassy and Italian co-sponsors, Environment Director General 
Corrado Clini called for Italy-U.S. collaboration in developing and 
deploying clean energy technology in China and other countries.  He 
highlighted three sectors for potential collaboration: energy 
efficiency, bioenergy, and green buildings.  U.S. Department of 
Energy (DOE) PDAS Jonathan Shrier described four key means of moving 
low-carbon technology from laboratories to markets: carbon-pricing 
and other market mechanisms; innovative financial mechanisms; 
public-private partnerships; and trade liberalization, including 
creation of business-friendly environments.  U.S. and Italian 
speakers provided practical examples of these in the bioenergy, 
automotive, and solar sectors, and in carbon capture and storage 
(CCS).  New bilateral research collaboration in bioenergy and CCS 
appears likely, resulting from travel by DOE experts in Italy as 
well as discussions at the conference.  The conference received wide 
coverage in economic, scientific and energy-related electronic 
journals and news services.  End summary. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Conference goals, partners and participants 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  As part of Mission Italy's efforts to promote U.S.-Italy 
partnership in the areas of energy security and climate change, and 
to encourage stronger, innovation-led economic growth in Italy, in 
early 2008 the Environment, Science and Technology and Public 
Affairs sections proposed to hold a bilateral conference showcasing 
successful examples of clean energy technology transfer.  The goals 
of the conference were to "Promote science and technology 
co-operation, innovation and leapfrogging" in low-carbon 
technologies, as recommended by the U.S. and Italian academies of 
sciences  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/includes/ 
climatechangestatement.pdf), and to "improve international 
coordination of energy research and development efforts, including 
in collaboration with the private sector, and to build public 
support for the significant and sustained investments in clean 
energy research that will be needed" worldwide as called for by the 
InterAcademy Council study "Lighting the Way - Toward a sustainable 
energy future" (http://www.interacademycouncil.net/CMS/ 
reports/11840/11939.aspx).   The conference was held under the 
auspices of the U.S.-Italy Climate Change Science and Technology 
Partnership. 
 
¶3.  Italian co-sponsors for the conference grew to include the 
Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection (MATTM), the 
Italian Foreign Trade Institute (ICE), and the Euro-Mediterranean 
Climate Change Center (CMCC), a non-profit research institute.  The 
conference was held at ICE on May 26, 2009 (the day following the 
5/23-25/09 G8 Energy Ministerial), and addressed practical aspects 
of the call for low-carbon technology deployment made by both the 
Energy Ministers and the G8 Environment Ministers in their 
4/22-24/09 ministerial.  Titled "Leading Low-carbon Technology in 
Italy and the United States: Moving Research from the Laboratory to 
the Market," the conference attracted 20 expert speakers and 
moderators from universities, the private sector, and government 
research centers.  It was opened by ICE President Ambassador Umberto 
Vattani, MATTM Director General Corrado Clini and DOE PDAS for 
Policy and International Affairs Jonathan Shrier.  The audience 
included 115 participants, ranging from Italian government and Food 
and Agriculture Organization experts to financiers, consultants, 
researchers, university students and journalists.  The agenda, 
speakers' powerpoint presentations and biographies, and the 
post-event press release are posted in English and Italian on the 
conference website, http://www.lct-italyusa.com/en/index.php. 
 
------------------------- 
Key Policy-Level Comments 
------------------------- 
 
¶4.  In his introductory and closing comments, DG Clini confirmed the 
Environment Ministry's commitment to bilateral cooperation with the 
U.S. in climate science and technology.  He proposed that before the 
end of the 2009, the U.S. and Italy redefine their joint work, 
possibly agreeing to collaborate in third countries such as China. 
He noted that this collaboration would fit naturally with the 
low-carbon technology dissemination goals discussed in the G8 
process and in the Major Economies Forum (MEF).  Pointing out with 
 
ROME 00000653  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
pride that the energy-efficient building in China which U.S. Energy 
Secretary Chu had cited as a model in the April MEF meeting was 
built as part of an Italy-China project supported by his Ministry, 
DG Clini suggested that the U.S. and Italy work together in 
low-carbon technology development and deployment in China in three 
areas:  energy efficiency, bioenergy, and green buildings.  He noted 
that there are similar opportunities for U.S.-Italy collaboration in 
other countries as well, mentioning Brazil in particular.  (Current 
annual funding for GOI bilateral cooperation dealing with climate 
change is about 193 million Euros, 125 million from the Foreign 
Affairs Ministry and 68 million from the Environment Ministry.  A 
good part of the Environment Ministry's projects take place in 
China.) 
 
¶5.  Noting the Energy Ministers' call the day before for 
international coordination of clean energy technology research and 
development, PDAS Shrier described the "science and technology 
opportunities ahead" in the areas of energy efficiency, CCS, 
batteries, and solar and nuclear energy.  He also mentioned the 
regulatory tools that can promote dissemination of those 
technologies.  He concluded by focusing on four key means of moving 
low-carbon technology from laboratories to markets: carbon-pricing 
and other market mechanisms; innovative financial mechanisms; 
public-private partnerships; and trade liberalization, including 
creation of business-friendly environments. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
New and Strengthened Research Cooperation 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  Dr. Scott Baker and Dr. Pete McGrail, both of DOE's Pacific 
Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), described the different 
mechanisms that they use to work with other researchers, the 
government, and with the private sector in their areas of expertise 
(bioenergy and carbon capture and storage, respectively).  Dr. 
McGrail and CCS Session Moderator Dr. Fedora Quattrocchi of Italy's 
National Geophysics and Volcanology Institute found strong common 
research interest in analyzing the carbon dioxide storage potential 
of basalt formations, and anticipate future work together in that 
area.  Italian para-statal electricity firm ENEL, whose CCS research 
program Dr. McGrail visited in Pisa, also expressed interest in 
PNNL's research into carbon-grabbing molecules; an ENEL-PNNL 
non-disclosure agreement would need to be reached before any 
collaboration can occur in that area. 
 
¶7.  Dr. Baker's visit to Bari consolidated a growing joint research 
effort to study fungi with potential for converting cellulose into 
fuel; two institutes belonging to Italy's National Research Council 
(CNR) are now planning, with Dr. Baker, a CNR-PNNL memorandum of 
cooperation to cover their joint research.  Since this follows 
Energy Secretary Chu's May 23 speech at CNR, at which CNR President 
Luciano Maiani called for strengthened CNR-USG research 
collaboration, it likely will have considerable momentum.  Also in 
the bioenergy field, Italian conference speaker Tullio Caselli, CEO 
of SHAP SpA, described SHAP's joint work with the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (under the U.S.-Italy climate partnership) to 
develop improved gasification technology for biomass such as wood 
chips.  The gasifier which SHAP has developed will be tested at EPA 
facilities in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the coming months. 
 
-------------- 
Press Coverage 
-------------- 
 
¶8.  The conference was covered widely in Italian economic, 
scientific and energy-related electronic journals (DISTI, 
IlVelino.it, Tribuna Economica, Quotidiano Energia) and news 
services (ANSA, AGI, ASCA).  The ASCA article quotes Dr. Quattrocchi 
as describing the proposed CCS-basalt research with Dr. McGrail as 
the first interaction to take place under the DOE-Italian Economic 
Development Ministry cooperation agreement on clean coal and CCS, 
signed by Secretary Chu and Economic Development Minister Scajola in 
a bilateral meeting on the margins of the G8 Energy Ministerial 
(septel; see also http://www.energy.gov/news2009/7419.htm).  Dr. 
Quattrocchi also is quoted as saying that a U.S.-Italy comparison of 
the risks associated with geological CO2 storage could be their next 
joint activity.  (Dr. Quattrocchi is actively engaged in public 
outreach efforts in Italy regarding the safety of underground CO2 
 
ROME 00000653  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
storage.)  Recorded interviews with Dr. McGrail and with U.S. 
automotive sector speaker Dr. Giorgio Rizzoni of The Ohio State 
University are expected to air in the future. 
 
¶9.  DOE PDAS Shrier has cleared this message. 
 
DIBBLE