WTI Magazine #72    2015 November 13
Author : Fondazione Symbola      Translation by:

The green economy in Italy is now a seized opportunity, rather than a need to be. The numbers say this: those of GreenItaly 2015, the sixth report from Symbola Foundation and Unioncamere, promoted in collaboration with CONAI, which measures and weighs the strength of the national green economy. According to the report, since the beginning of the crisis one Italian company out of four has bet on innovation, research, design, quality and beauty: the green economy. In fact, there are 372,000 Italian companies (the 24.5% of total) in industry and services sectors that since 2008 have invested, or will do so this year, in green technologies to reduce the environmental impact, save energy and reduce CO2 emissions.

The green orientation remains a strategic factor for Made in Italy: our green economy produces 102,497 billion of added value - 10.3% of the national economy - and 2 million 942 thousand green jobs. A figure that corresponds to 13.2% of total national employment and is set to rise again by December. In fact, this year 294,200 new hirings will be linked to green skills: 59% of the demand for labor.

Only this year, encouraged by the first signs of recovery, 120,000 Italian companies have invested in the green economy, or intend to do so by December: 36% more than in 2014. In terms of results, budgets, employment and environmental performance, despite the many problems Italy is the European leader in some fields of sustainable development.

In our country, the green economy has contributed and is contributing significantly to improving the competitiveness of Made in Italy: a trend that embraces all sectors of our economy - from the most traditional to high tech, from food to construction, from manufacturing to chemistry, from energy to waste.
The green companies are protagonists in exports and innovation

The green Italian companies have on the foreign markets a significantly higher dynamic than the rest of the Italian economy: they are more present in markets outside Europe, and the 18.9% of them do export their products or services, compared with 10.7% of those who do not invest in green. In manufacturing, this comparison is 43.4% against 25.5%. Still, green companies innovate more: 21.9% of them developed new products or services, compared to 9.9% of the others. Driven by exports and innovation, between 2013 and 2014 sales increased in 19.6% of the companies investing in green, against the 13.4% of the others. Percentages than in manufacturing rise to 27.4% against 19.9%.

Sustainability is an important driver also in creating jobs, either among eco-investing companies and among. The 14.9% of recruitments in 2015 (74,700 jobs) relates to green jobs, threshold increased by 4 percentage points over 2009. In the corporate design and research and development green jobs become the real protagonists of innovation, reaching 67%.

If we go over the fence of strictly green jobs and we also look to the demand for professionals with simply green expertise, we see that the hirings with these requirements are 219,500. Overall, adding the two figures we reach an impressive 294,200 "green" workers, the 59% of the demand for labor. Even our small and medium-sized companies bring their important contribution and excel at European level in terms of "green conversion" employment: from the end of 2014, 51% of Italian SMEs have at least one green jobs, more than in the UK (37%), France (32%) and Germany (29%).

Leaders in energy and recycling waste
Italy has had notable firsts at European level in terms of environment. At constant value produced, our companies use less raw materials and energy and produce less waste and emissions. Eurostat certifies that Italian companies, with 337 kg of raw material per million Euros product, not only do much better than the EU average (497 kg), but are placed second among the major economies of the EU after the UK (293 kg), ahead of France (369), Spain (373) and well ahead of Germany (461).

A similar trend is also recorded as for energy used. We are second among the big players in Europe, behind the UK alone. From 17 tons of oil equivalent per million euro in 2008 we switched to 15: Britain burns 12, France 16, Spain and Germany 18. Italy does well also in waste reduction. With 39 tonnes per million euro product (5 less than in 2008) we are the most efficient in Europe, again much better than Germany (65 tons).

Regarding the emission reduction in the atmosphere, we are second among the five major EU economies (113 tons CO2, latest data available in 2012), only behind France (91 t, in this case favored by nuclear) and, once again, ahead of Germany. And we are European leader in the recycling industry: with the industrial recovery of more than 163 million tonnes of recyclable waste on a European scale, Italy has been recovered 25 million tonnes, the absolute highest of all European countries (in Germany 23). The recycling in production processes allowed us to save primary energy for the equivalent of over 15 million tons of oil and emissions for about 55 million tons of CO2. Italy is also one of the main European economies, second only to Germany, in terms of percentage of recycling and recovery of packaging waste, doing better than Spain, France and the United Kingdom.

Geography of eco-investments
The Green Italy has spread fairly evenly throughout the boot, but it is stronger in the north of the country. More specifically, Lombardy is the region that leads the regional number of green companies, with nearly 71,000 cases representing less than a fifth of the total. Veneto and Lazio follow, with about 34,770 and 31,010 green companies, then Emilia Romagna and Campania, respectively with 30,710 and 27,920 enterprises that have invested to improve their environmental performance. And then there are 27,330 green companies in Piedmont, then Tuscany with 26,770, Apulia with 23,300 cases, Sicily 22,520 and Marche 10,800.

Where and what are the most popular green jobs
Given the prevailing presence of green companies in the North-West, also the geographical spread of demand for green jobs sees there a high concentration, where the 2015 hirings come to almost 26,000 units, of which 19 thousand only in Lombardy. Good prospects for recruitment in the green economy also come from the Northeast, where the assumptions of green jobs planned within the year are almost 16 thousand, mainly due to the presence of Veneto, with 6,210 units. The South and the Islands show a number of new green jobs provided in 2015 of 17,600 units, while the Centre is at 15,170, of which 9,410 in Lazio (the region in second position behind the Lombardy in the ranking by number of absolute new green jobs). Among the most virtuous regions on this front we can also mention the Emilia Romagna (6,390), Veneto (6,210) and Campania (5,030).

Among the professional green jobs, these are the most popular: installer of thermal plants with low impact; energy engineer; mechatronic engineer; ecobrand manager; expert on green procurement; demolition expert for the recovery of materials; expert of historical urban renewal; sustainable fabricator; expert in marketing of recycled products; programmer of agroforestry resources; expert in soil science for agricultural purposes; environmental engineer, environmental statistical and risk manager.