(Finance) – From Intesa Sanpaolo a support of 4 million euros for the new sustainable growth projects of GAP SpA, a Bergamo-based company with operational headquarters in Brescia specializing in the handling of materials and processing waste at national and cross-border steel companies. The overall intervention is part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s broader plan to support investments by companies in the environmental transition and the objectives linked to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The operation is assisted by the SACE Green Guarantee and was perfected in collaboration with the Circular Economy Desk of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Centerthe Group company dedicated to the frontier of innovation.
The loan from Intesa Sanpaolo, from the new Circular Economy ceiling of 8 billion euros set up to support companies that initiate circular economy and environmental impact reduction projects, amounts to 4 million euros and is aimed at replacing industrial loaders, used in material handling, with vehicles equipped with new zero-emission engines, with the aim of achieving a progressive electrification of the entire machinery park. This operation is part of the green agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo, in which SACE intervenes with a guarantee to cover loans both for large industrial conversion projects and for SMEs that intend to reduce their environmental impact and initiate a sustainable transformation.
After the first phase of analysis and design, in 2017 GAP has begun the conversion of a first thermal charger into 100% electric which is currently operating in a leading Italian steel mill which aims over time at the full implementation of the principles of the circular economy. In the coming months, two will be added to the first electric charger as part of the 2021 GAP investments.
“GAP has always paid great attention to a virtuous impact on the environment of the activities provided to customers. In this regard, GAP SpA in 2013 launched the EHRON project, aimed at the gradual introduction of industrial vehicles with 0 emissions – he declares Eligio Piantoni, CEO of the Group -. Subsequent developments will be dedicated to the application of the EHRON kit propulsion system on different vehicles and, currently, the hybridization of the EHRON kit from electric to electric-hydrogen is also being planned “.
“We have always been strongly committed to supporting local SMEs in sustainable development and today even more, accompanying them in the necessary transition to the green economy, in full line with our 2022-2025 industrial plan and with the pillars of the PNRR. To identify the most suitable calls for our customers, we have recently set up a digital and free platform on our website – he declares Gianluigi Venturini, Regional Director of Northern Lombardy Intesa Sanpaolo -. We have disbursed more than 1 billion euros in Lombardy for circular economy projects and in S-Loans in favor of SMEs which, like GAP Spa, are increasingly oriented towards ESG objectives, such as reducing their environmental impact and improving the social sphere. and governance, elements that companies need today to increase competitiveness and efficiency “.
By 2026, Intesa Sanpaolo program medium / long-term disbursements for over 410 billion euros, of which 120 for SMEs, with which to actively contribute to the economic recovery of the country in close correlation with the objectives of the PNRR approved by the European Commission.