US Presidential Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry today visited Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts, near Boston, along with CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard and CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi.
CFS, a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is working towards the commercialization of fusion power plants. Eni, a strategic investor collaborating on the project, has played a key role in supporting the rapid growth of CFS since its founding in 2018. CFS is currently building SPARC, designed to be the world's first magnetic confinement system for energy production clear. SPARC will make way for ARC, designed to be the first commercial power plant, capable of injecting fusion electricity into the grid. ARC is expected to be operational in the early 2030s.
The strategic visit highlights the importance of fusion as a safe, sustainable and virtually inexhaustible energy that will contribute in a revolutionary way to the energy transition. The advantage of commercializing fusion energy is that it does not generate greenhouse gas emissions. Fusion energy is constant and reliable, making it an extremely attractive source for the energy industry. The nuclear fusion process is also virtually inexhaustible because it uses a mixture of two hydrogen isotopes as fuel: deuterium and tritium. Additionally, magnetic confinement technology uses powerful magnetic fields to isolate, power and maintain the fusion reaction.
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry commented: “Fusion energy is no longer just a scientific experiment, but is now emerging as an emerging climate solution, thanks to decades of investments from the Department of Energy's core fusion energy science programs. At COP28 at an event on December 5, I will delve into the United States' vision for international partnerships to ensure an inclusive future for fusion energy."
The visit to CFS by John Kerry and Claudio Descalzi follows a Technology Cooperation Agreement recently signed between Eni and CFS with the aim of accelerating the industrialization of fusion energy. Eni was the first energy company to believe and invest in fusion, which – once brought to an industrial level – could make a significant contribution to decarbonisation by providing large quantities of zero-carbon energy. Specifically, this collaboration aims to accelerate the industrial development of fusion power plants, as well as a number of projects currently under development that could include operational and technological support, technology development, project execution through the sharing of methodologies borrowed from the energy industry , as well as relationships with stakeholders.
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi commented: “It is with great pleasure that I am here today with John Kerry, who is doing extraordinary work to concretely accelerate the energy transition at a global level. Eni's commitment to decarbonisation is strong, profound and irreversible and is based on a transformation path that we have been undertaking for 10 years. Eni is reducing its total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to reach Net Zero in 2050. On the one hand, we are working on reducing the carbon content in energy production from traditional sources, for example by significantly decreasing our methane emissions; on the other, we are progressively increasing our offer of low-carbon products, growing both in the production of renewables and biofuels. But we also look to our future, investing in breakthrough solutions for the transition, such as fusion energy, which represents a sustainable and virtually inexhaustible source of energy. We have a historic scientific collaboration with MIT and are a strategic investor in Commonwealth Fusion Systems: we are investing significantly in magnetic fusion with the aim of bringing it to industrialization, and we value international and public-private collaborations to accelerate its commercialization. We started here, in the unique US innovation ecosystem, whose approach should be seen as a model for other countries approaching this technology. That's why today we are proud to share the progress of CFS with a forward-thinking person like John Kerry."
CFS has taken the fastest path to industrializing fusion energy. Today, CFS is producing high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets that are critical to achieving the net fusion energy within SPARC. Day after day, more government officials, academics and industry leaders visit SPARC, given fusion's promising role in transforming the global energy market and solving the urgent climate crisis.
CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard commented: “US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and Eni, led by Claudio Descalzi, have long understood the prospects of what the merger – once brought to scale industrial – will represent for the world. Both believe in CFS' mission to accelerate the path to commercialization to address climate change. Thanks to SPARC, CFS has taken the safest path to realizing fusion energy on a time scale capable of generating a positive impact on climate change. With a coordinated global effort, the best resources of the public and private sector can be employed and developed on an industrial scale through collaboration with leaders such as Eni, its CEO Descalzi, as well as Special Envoy Kerry. We are thus in a position to innovate and implement real solutions."
For Eni and CFS, magnetic confinement fusion plays a central role among the technologies for decarbonization, as in the future it will allow humanity to have a virtually inexhaustible source of energy available with no CO2 emissions, forever transforming the paradigm of energy production.
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