Einstein Telescope: An assessment of its economic, social and environmental impact in Sardinia

This study provides an ex ante assessment of the potential socio-economic impact of the construction and operation phases of the Einstein Telescope if it is built at Sos Enattos (Sardinia), the Italian candidate site to the ESFRI ROADMAP 2021. Three sources of impact are evaluated: economic impact, social impact and environmental impact. The results of the study, in terms of the estimated impact in its various dimensions, are still partially uncertain due to the preliminary planning stage of the project. Some decisions concerning the design of the infrastructure as well as the technologies that the ET might require are currently still pending. This might imply a further update of the budgeted construction and operation costs at a future stage of the planning process, which, in turn, would necessitate an update of the estimated impacts. However, given the methodology adopted and the quality of the information already available, which is fully reflected in the study, the reported estimates should be considered a trustworthy measure of the effects that the ET will have at the provincial, regional, national and international levels. Three sources of impact are evaluated: economic impact, social impact and environmental impact. The study is structured in four main sections: I. The socioeconomic context: Sardinia and the Sos Enattos area; II. Economic impact; III. Social impact; and IV. Environmental impact.

The first section provides a profile of the region of Sardinia as well as of the site area of Sos Enattos and the province in which it is situated. The region, the site area and the province are described in detail in terms of demography, economy and entrepreneurial activity, human capital, the innovation and research environment, and logistics features. Such descriptive analysis shows that the region constitutes an ideal location to host a large research infrastructure project such as the ET. 

The second section addresses the estimation of the economic impact. The analysis considers the two main phases of the ET project, construction and operation, separately. Both phases are predicted to generate a significant economic impact by boosting economic activity (overall output), value added (GDP) and employment in the region, as well as in Italy and other countries. Overall, over the entire construction period, the construction phase is expected to produce an increase in economic activity of approximately 6.2 B€ which corresponds to a GDP effect of approximately 2.3 B€ and to induce an employment effect of approximately 36,000 FTE jobs. The operation phase is projected to generate an annual expected flow of economic activity of 127 M€ 45.3 M€ of GDP and more than 700 FTE jobs. 

The social impact, described and estimated in the third section, refers to the projected effect of the ET on society by pushing scientific and technological boundaries, fostering innovation, and creating high-skilled human capital. These impacts are doubtlessly relevant and their effects spread at an international scale. However, one main result is that the effects would play a key role in a region such as Sardinia by enhancing economic performance and resilience.

The last section outlines the predicted environmental externalities produced by the ET. The project is expected to have a low negative impact on the environment as a whole since it would involve the reuse of existing infrastructures on the decommissioned mining site. The construction phase would have larger externalities in terms of underground soil consumption due to the size of the underground tunnels. However, there is a plan to use the extracted soil in the environmental restoration of local decommissioned quarries.