GREENITALY 2017, x ray of a growing sector
A GreenItaly 2017 survey on the state of the green economy in Italy was made public in Rome. The document shows the remarkable growth of the sector in the country which extends from renewable energy sources, green recycling in all the Made in Italy areas and the substantial fallout for job creation
GreenItaly 2017 is the report compiled by the Fondazione Symbola e Unioncamere presented in Rome last 24th October which clearly demonstrates the way the green economy has evolved to become a winning system based on investments, work and capabilities for sustainable continuity in communities and development in territories. Gauging the strength of the green economy, the report pointed to 355,000 Italian enterprises equal to 27.1% of the industries and tertiary sector which have invested in green technologies to reduce their impact on the environment, achieve energy savings, safeguard safety on the job and lower CO2 emissions.
Thus far, 2017 has shown a very real speedup of the willingness of enterprises to make green investments by 209,000 companies having done so or are planning them before the close of the year.
These investments in sustainability and efficient operations rose by 1.6% over 2011 levels.
The nation’s green economy has led to 2,972,000 green jobs, that is, occupation for workers with a high level of competence in one area or another. This figure will increase by 320,000 new experts within the current year. Along with occupation, the green economy is also creating wealth. The nearly three million green jobs in Italy account for € 195.8 billion in value added, equal to 13.1% of the total.
The industry sector
The fourth industrial sector revolution is now underway and intelligent, connected and sustainable factories do not now look like distant realities.
For a number of years the manufacturing industries have been pursuing what is called Industry 4.0, a change of the paradigm requiring a shift to innovations for productive infrastructure involving the factory 360 degrees.
For years, UCIMU, Italian Machine Tool, Robots, Automation Systems and Ancillary Products Association, has granted the UCIMU trademark to association member companies guaranteeing commercial reliability, financial solidarity, attention to safety, customer care and sustainable manufacturing.
At present, there are some 100 enterprises out of the total of more than 200 association member allowed to display the trademark on their production. The report presented disclosed that in the industry sector, especially those taking the green route and adapting production are moving ahead for the acquisition of new machinery or updating old machines for the purpose of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
And it must be borne in mind that those who are called on for the installation and maintenance of new plant must update their skills in this direction.
The duties of these professionals is not limited to installation and mounting new concept plants in the industrial machinery environment but also to verify the areas in which these plants will be put to work.
In some cases, with suitable specialization the individual can move on to become certified for testing and verifying the certification that the systems have been installed according to regulations.
For the renewal of capital assets with technologies and sustainability the public sector has also provided support.
Among other factors, Industry 4.0 has brought to the field hyper and super depreciation for capital assets investments, support for companies seeking bank loans for plant, equipment and digital technologies, fiscal credit for research and development spending, facilitated taxation on income derived from the use of intellectual property rights and fiscal deductions of up to 30% for risk capital investments.
Green enterprises leading players in research and export
Green companies appear to be more willing to invest in research. The expansion of R&D divisions by medium size manufacturing industries which invested in green products and technologies in the three-year period 2014-2016 showed a gain of 27% compared to 18% of those which did not make these investments. Research and development boosts turnover and export.
In 2016, the medium-size manufacturers making green investments showed foreign market dynamics strongly greater than those which did not make these investments, a 33% rise compared to a 49% increase for the green investors.
The 2015 and 2016 sprint in exports and innovations led to a 58% growth of turnover for the green investing enterprises against 53% for the others. Expectations for the current year are turnover gaining by 57% for the green enterprises against 53% for the others.
Moreover, the report cited the many companies committed to fine tuning the use of zero kilometer and sustainable materials as seen in the LegnoClima and FederlegnoArredo projects aimed at quantifying stock for carbon content in building wood products starting with virgin Italian timber sawn, panels and fiber for tracking the carbon captured for long periods of time in wood production biomass to avoid releasing it into the atmosphere.
There is also an e-trail system from the Berti Agricultural Machinery manufacturer in Verona, a radio remote implement carrier designed for mowing grass and brush in all work environments and on uneven terrain which takes the company into the lineup of those most active in green investments.
