The Green Gas Innovation Alliance is born: Cadent, GRDF and Italgas join forces to accelerate the integration of renewable gases and network innovation in Europe

These molecules have a critical role to play in driving decarbonisation and strengthening Europe's energy resilience and sovereignty.

Paris, 11 September 2026 – The collaboration of the three largest gas distribution players in Europe gives rise in Paris to the Green Gas Innovation Alliance (GGIA): a new structured industrial alliance aimed at promoting innovation in the sector, accelerating the role gas will play in strengthening energy security, maintain affordability for customers and industry as well as play its role in energy transition through the development of renewable and low-carbon gases and contributing to the transformation of distribution networks.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday by Italgas, Cadent and GRDF (Gaz Réseau Distribution France), represented respectively by their three Chief Executive Officers, Paolo Gallo, Steve Fraser and Laurence Poirier-Dietz. Three companies that together manage approximately 500,000 kilometres of network serving approximately 35 million customers. 

Chief Executive Officers of GRDF, Cadent and Italgas - Laurence Poirier-Dietz, Steve Fraser and Paolo Gallo signing the MoUs for the launch of the Green Gas Innovation Alliance

The birth of the Green Gas Innovation Alliance marks an important step forward in developing a shared vision of the future of energy, said Paolo Gallo, Chief Executive Officer of Italgas. “Together with GRDF and Cadent we are pooling industrial expertise, technologies and research and development capabilities, with the aim of turning the best solutions into innovations that can be replicated on an international scale. To this alliance we bring the experience gained in the digital transformation of our networks, a journey that has turned them into systems capable of measuring, communicating and adapting in real time. The challenge is not only to make networks compatible with renewable gases, but to transform them into infrastructures fully integrated into the energy system. Networks able to contribute, through digitalization and innovation, to security of supply, energy competitiveness and decarbonisation. It is our responsibility to continue rethinking their role and to help lead the transformation of the sector.

Building on the successes of Cadent’s Global Technology Events, it’s wonderful to see how GRDF, Italgas and Cadent have come together to build on the relationships - Steve Fraser, CEO of Cadent explained. - The Green Gas Innovation Alliance is about more than just sharing knowledge. It's about driving innovation and turning ideas into real-world solutions. By working together, we will explore new ways to integrate renewable gases into our networks and support decarbonisation in a way that is simple, practical, and affordable for all our customers. By learning from one another, we can accelerate progress, avoid duplication, and scale successful approaches more effectively, helping to deliver a cleaner energy future for all.

I look forward to the GGIA expanding across Europe and beyond these boundaries to ensure worldwide we have green solutions for tomorrow, today.

Across Europe, we must simultaneously address climate change, strengthen energy security, maintain affordability for customers and support industrial competitiveness. We must transform our infrastructures while continuing to deliver the reliability and quality of service that citizens and businesses expect from us.” said Laurence Poirier-Dietz, Chief Executive Officer of GRDF. “No single organisation can achieve this alone, no single technology will provide all the answers, and no single country can lead this transformation in isolation. That is why collaboration matters. The future energy system will rely on a smart combination of electrons and molecules. Electrification will be essential, but so are renewable and low-carbon gases, that have a critical role to play in accelerating decarbonisation and strengthening Europe's energy resilience.

The activity of the Green Gas Innovation Alliance will focus, more specifically, on two main areas of collaboration:

• Technologies for injection of renewable and low-carbon gases. Development, integration and validation of solutions for biomethane, hydrogen and synthetic methane; promotion of technologies for the capture and use of CO₂ and of advanced systems for gas quality analysis and control.
• Evolution of distribution networks. Sharing and testing of solutions for digitalization, integrated sensors, advanced monitoring and asset management, as well as of measurement, safety and interoperability systems and of technologies able to increase the capacity of infrastructures to accommodate new gas molecules and blends.

The three companies will also collaborate on technology scouting at European and international level, promoting calls for projects and innovation challenges addressed to companies, startups, research centres and technology providers. The most promising solutions may be tested through Proof of Concept, in order to assess their performance and industrial benefits and to foster their application on a large scale. Sharing experiences and results will make it possible to accelerate innovation, reduce development times and costs and turn the most effective technologies into operational and replicable solutions.

The agreement marking the birth of the Green Gas Innovation Alliance launches a structured and evolving industrial platform. After an initial phase of consolidation of the collaboration between the three partners, its scope may be extended to other operators and qualified players in the supply chain, in accordance with the arrangements defined by the Alliance's governance. With the signing of the GGIA, Italgas, Cadent and GRDF embark on a new path of international collaboration aimed at strengthening the role of networks as enablers of the energy transition and contributing to the sustainable and digital transformation of distribution infrastructures.