Limenet, the Italian startup that is developing a technology to produce net zero lime to enable CO2 removal thought ocean storage, has shared the community engagement strategy that it has carried out in Augusta, where its first industrial plant is sited.
Born in 2023 from the Desarc Maresanus research group, Limenet has rapidly grown and tested its carbon storage process with its first industrial demo plant, a facility with a storage capacity of 800 tons of CO2 removed per year.
A key component for reaching this goal and achieving local social license to tests was to effectively engage with a broad range of stakeholders, with particular attention to the communities where Limenet operates.
As a startup whose mission is to fight climate change, a key pillar of Limenet’s community engagement strategy is to create a shared awareness of this problem. Limenet views scientific dissemination as a driver for engagement and education of stakeholders both at a local and extensive level. Moreover, having the first carbon ocean storage reality in Italy and one of the first in Europe, securing social license was a critical point. In Augusta, securing social acceptance was made more critical by the fact that the city has suffered from environmental pollution caused by past refineries activities and this pain point could influence the perception of the project.
At a local level, in Augusta, Limenet has had a high level of engagement with the local authorities since the beginning of the project. The project was presented to the local authorities in late 2023 during the planning phase and gained attention thanks to the high level of innovation and potential positive effects on the local marine ecosystem. “We welcomed Limenet’s initiative with great interest. It gives the Port of Augusta a world record in air-to-sea carbon dioxide transfer and could serve as an inspiration for other Italian — and international — ports to adopt powerful and effective tools for the protection of the marine environment.” says Francesco Di Sarcina, President of the Port Authority of Augusta.
The ability of Limenet to build a collaborative dialogue with the local authorities allowed Limenet to cooperate and together identify the location for the plant in the interest of the local community, minimizing visual impacts and using dismissed port areas.
Community Dialogue
To engage with the citizens of Augusta, Limenet organized a public event and meetings with local associations that led to the development of constructive and solid dialogue with the community and helped Limenet identifying local needs and concerns to obtain social license. The public engagement event was organized during the planning phase of the project, to be on time for changing aspects of the project if needed. The main aim of this moment was to introduce the latest evidences of climate science, that urge to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and identify CDR technologies as necessary to accomplish this goal. Following the scientific dissemination Limenet initiative was presented to the community, which provided valuable feedback.
To make the event more effective, Limenet was joined by Associate Professor Stefano Caserini from the University of Parma, expert and scientific disseminator of climate change. As expected, it emerged how CDR technologies remain largely unknown to the general public, underscoring the importance of strengthening climate science outreach efforts. This was highlighted by the final survey at the end of the event, where 88% of the participants rated the event useful to understand better the causes and consequences of climate change. As pointed out by the local association Sulidarte, this climate dissemination activity had a significant impact, particularly because Augusta doesn’t have a University and it is located far from major research hubs, making such events uncommon.
During the final Q&A session citizens brought up topics related to the moral hazard issue and the potential effects on the marine biota, but overall the community gave positive feedback to the project, as assessed by the survey at the end of the event. Below is reported the feedback of one member of the City Council: “As a citizen and councilor, I am proud that my Augusta hosts this pilot project and for more promoted by a startup that features young brilliant and competent.”
Positive feedback came also from the local authorities, who expressed also how this project could bring hope to the population that in their area could host activities that have a positive impact on the environment despite the past environmental pollution. “Here in Augusta, we are very proud to be part of such an innovative journey that starts right from our city – stated Giuseppe di Mare, Major of the city of Augusta – We see this as a sign of everything that needs to be done in our territory. We will stand by Limenet to see this initiative through, as also it represents, in some way, a form of social redemption for Augusta”.
During climate science dissemination activities, particular attention was given to the younger generations. The goal was to involve the citizens of tomorrow, providing them with tools to better understand and address this challenge, and bring an example of innovative project in an area with low level of innovation. To this end, Limenet organized two activities with students from the local high school A. Ruiz of Augusta, which were rated very positively by 97% of the participants. On the one hand, Limenet provided scientific dissemination on climate change and mitigation strategies, supported by its scientific advisor Stefano Caserini to increase effectiveness. On the other hand, Limenet offered a guided tour to the plant to illustrate its operation and functioning.
Getting a message across
The key takeaway that Limenet has from two years of community engagement is that climate scientific dissemination is a fundamental step of the process. Deep diving into climate change and the role of CDR activities helps the community understand the rationale behind projects like Limenet’s and their importance in addressing this global challenge. Another key lesson is that each community has its own background and level of familiarity with stakeholder engagement. This highlighted the need to clearly communicate the purpose and limits of these activities to ensure shared understanding.
The relationship established with local authorities and associations has been fundamental to understand the community’s background and identifying the most effective ways to build a solid and constructive dialogue. A core element of Limenet’s engagement strategy with the Augusta community was to anticipate potential concerns about the technology and test its communication approach in advance. To this end, before engaging directly with the community of Augusta, Limenet organized scientific outreach events in areas closer to its offices for both high school students and adults. For the adult event, participants were selected to reflect diverse backgrounds, but all shared one common trait: they were born and raised in coastal areas. This was intentional, as coastal communities tend to have a more profound connection with the sea and may be more hesitant to accept technologies operating in marine environments. Another event took place in La Spezia, home to Limenet’s first pilot plant.
Looking to the future, Limenet aims to grow the relationship with the local community. These would be done by organizing periodically public events every and by continuously finetuning its engagement strategy based on ongoing feedback and learning.
Through its engagement activities, Limenet was able to establish a solid dialogue with local authorities and the community, positioning itself not only as an industrial player but also as a enabler of empowerment in Augusta.
