From VenicePost Monitor | Producing and providing services in a sustainable way is no longer a mere ecological fad, but a key factor for the competitiveness of companies and a precise market demand. And in this-at least for once-Italy is leading the way
“The green economy in Italy is an opportunity seized, rather than a need to be”: affirming this, based on the numbers, is the Symbola foundation in its Greenitaly 2015 report prepared together with Unioncamere and Conai. According to these figures, the green economy in our country is owed 102.5 billion in added value – equal to 10.3 percent of the national economy – and nearly 3 million jobs, with an additional 300,000 new hires expected in 2016; and in 2015 there were 120,000 companies – 24.3 percent of the total and 36 percent more than in 2014 – that invested on the environmental sustainability front. Symbola, again, then included the green economy among the “10 selfies from which to challenge the crisis in 2016,” along with the fact that our country is first in the world for the contribution of photovoltaics in the national electricity mix (7.9 percent in 2013) and in 2014 derived 43 percent of its energy from renewable sources; and is first in Europe for industrial waste recovery (25 million tons recovered each year) and among the last instead in producing it (40 tons per million euros of industrial production, compared with 63.7 in Germany and 83.5 in France). Green therefore, far from being a passing fad, is a factor of competitiveness in several respects: the drive for innovation, better positioning and dynamism in foreign markets, and a different relationship with an increasingly aware consumer. Green to innovate and compete
Reading these figures, it would seem that we are being told a different Italy than the one we knew: but how, weren’t we light years behind on this front? “There has been a very rapid change in recent times,” explains the secretary general of the Symbola Foundation, Fabio Renzi, “because the crisis has forced us to look for a way to remain competitive by reducing costs: saving energy, putting waste back into the production cycle, and optimizing the entire supply chain is the first way to do this. And in this, SMEs, which are more flexible than large companies and more willing to do incremental innovation, have been the protagonists: 21.9 percent of them have developed new products or services, compared to 9.9 percent of those who have not invested in green. In this they have combined the pursuit of environmental sustainability, innovation and competitiveness in a way that large groups have not.” A vision confirmed by entrepreneur Maurizio Zordan, CEO of the Zordan Group – a Vicenza-based custom furniture company whose client portfolio includes names such as Bulgari, which gave Zordan the 2014 Green Design Award – : “Economy and ecology have the same root,” he says, “In the long term, economic and environmental sustainability are inextricably linked, and since companies must also look to the long term, those who have not yet invested in sustainability will sooner or later find themselves forced to do so. In our particular case, we derive about 19 percent of our energy needs from photovoltaics, and we give wood waste to the Saviola Group, which recycles it. In addition, we take advantage of a biomass thermal power plant fueled by certified pellets.” So sustainability is also and above all done together, at the supply chain level, strengthened by the fabric of SMEs inclined to innovation that characterizes our country.
“Sustainability means guaranteeing the future of the company,” echoes Giulio Bonazzi, president and CEO of Aquafil spa, which has received numerous international awards for project Econyl, which reintroduces waste materials into the synthetic fiber production process, “because, especially in an industry like ours that is closely tied to petroleum derivatives, those who do not strive to become sustainable do not survive. And it’s not just a process that affects the individual company, but the whole community: in our recycling plant, for example, waste heat from the plants is used to heat the water park at the nearby shopping center. It’s all part of the circular economy concept, where we produce as much as possible with renewable energy, minimizing waste and feeding it back into the production cycle.” Green for export
Also according to Greenitaly data, companies that invest in green export 18.9 percent of the time, compared with 10.7 percent of those that do not; in the case of manufacturing, the percentages are as high as 43.4 percent versus 25.5 percent. And it is also by virtue of exporting that the percentage of companies that have seen their turnover grow is 27.4 percent among the green ones, compared to 19.9 percent among the others. When positioning ourselves in foreign markets, it is mainly carboon footprint assessment and environmental sustainability certifications that function as assets: from Leed in the field of construction (which assesses the overall environmental impact of a building, from energy performance to the materials with which it is built), to Pefc and Fsc for sustainable forest management. The absence of these certifications, in many markets, is a real barrier to entry: “In the Milan Fair area, for example, all buildings are constructed according to these certifications,” Zordan explains; “and even in the U.S. market, where we have a strong presence (the group acquired Michigan-based Woodways) they are constantly being requested. I have no doubt in saying that, without these certifications and many other expedients in the sense of environmental protection, we would not even have entered certain markets: so much so that we are now also working on B-Corp certification, which invests corporate social responsibility in a broad sense by providing the company with a purpose in addition to profit, namely to produce a positive impact for the environment and the surrounding community. The strength of the standard is undeniable.” “Many of our clients, I’m thinking of those who produce, for example, carpeting, would not even get certain contracts if the material they work with was not environmentally friendly,” Bonazzi confirms, “because complying with standards such as LEED, which evaluates all materials that are part of the construction and furnishing of a building, greatly increases the chances of success. And not always and necessarily because of legislative constraints, but because of a different sensibility that is developing.
Green for a new market
According to the Ixé Institute’s “Sustainability and Environmental Ethics” research, presented at Green Week delle Venezie in 2014, 66 percent of consumers identify themselves fully or close to an ethical attitude in consumption, 70 percent express concern for sustainability and development, and 59 percent when choosing a brand believe it is important that the producer is attentive to environmental protection: therefore, the research concludes, “environmental protection and sustainability is a winning positioning key,” all the more so taking into account that 60 percent of respondents say they inform themselves in this regard, and that – in the specific case of agricultural products – 55 percent regularly or sometimes go directly to the producer as a guarantee of greater protection and lower environmental impact. Among young people, then, the sense of critical consumption appears to be very deep-rooted: according to the survey “The New Generations and Conscious Consumption,” also by Ixé, 65% of 16-34 year-olds would like to teach their children first and foremost to “distinguish what is necessary from what is not,” not so much by reducing consumption per se as by directing it more wisely – so much so that only 6% say they are in favor of “consuming as little as possible” regardless. The company’s ability to storytell also fits into this: “You don’t just sell a product, you sell a process,” Renzi notes, “You also have to tell how the product is made, who makes it, how it is linked to the territory. And in this telling about environmental sustainability is crucial, because this is a real market demand: it’s not just a matter of meeting the environmental requirements that the law imposes or saving energy by using more efficient machinery-factors that are in any case indispensable in selling a product or service-it’s about being in tune with a changing world.” Green for the Northeast
Looking at the geographical distribution of companies that have invested in environmental sustainability according to the Greenitaly report, we note that Veneto is the second region in absolute numbers behind Lombardy (34,770 companies). Even more significant, however, is the figure for density-percentage of green companies out of the total number of those present: in this sense, the provinces of Belluno and Trieste lead the way, coming close to 30 percent, but the rest of the Venetian regions also straddle roughly 25 percent. “As much as there is not a strong duality between North and South, unlike other sectors,” Renzi notes, “where there is a capable and lively manufacturing sector, devoted to innovation and exports and strongly rooted in a territory that it intends to protect, the green economy knows a more significant development: and this is the case in the Northeast. A particularly suitable context, therefore, to host the Venetian Green Week, which from March 1 to 6 will give the opportunity to visit companies of green excellence, participate in the events of the green economy festival in Trento, and-for students-to take part in a project specifically dedicated to them.