There is a part of the budget of Italian companies that is allocated every year to the management of the environment and the impact on production. It is definitely growing, to the point that 9 out of 10 companies declare that they have included these issues in their business strategies. Italian managers emerge well from the research conducted by the DNV GL certification body – together with the GFK Eurisko institute. Part of a group of 1700 professionals, on behalf of their companies, has certified that waste and industrial waste are the points of maximum attention of their strategies. There's more to it, but nearly 90% of them say they monitor processes to assess compliance with environmental regulations. Not only that, they are also very attentive to the systems and the impacts on the surrounding environment. There were 274 Italian companies that joined the DNV and Eurisko panel.
The news has a particular flavor, in the days in which the Government, the Puglia Region, trade unions and entrepreneurs are fighting over the Ilva of Taranto. Only in passing we also mention the dozens of investigations for environmental pollution and the accusations of scarce habitat towards Italian and foreign industries. Times change and environmental sustainability reports, as well as obtaining credits on the markets, improve social and institutional relations. The research was looking for positive performances and it was useful. After all, Dnv is one of the major certification bodies with very strict methodologies and samplings. Italian companies do not intend to let their guard down. Their future depends on it like the conquest of new markets. Even for these declarations of good will and medium-term planning, 1 Italian company out of 3 resulted in an advanced level of environmental management. On the other hand, a high percentage declares that they want to do better at least in the next three years.
But what are the benchmarks? National and regional laws, certainly and moreover in continuous evolution. Then the values that the individual company transfers to the market and to customers. For example, 82% carry out assessment activities to evaluate impacts, while personnel training has become a constant for 7 out of 10 companies. The comparison with companies in other European countries was not negative, although on the Italian industrial sector weigh delays in investments and, perhaps even more, the convergence on non-climatterant objectives of institutions and social partners. In this we still need to make progress.
Finally, everything concerning waste management is interesting. The waste risk is at the top of the concerns of the managers interviewed and the Italians are in good company with their foreign colleagues. Industrial waste is a litmus test of any good environmental certification that crosses all industrial segments. Our Regions know something about this, which for years have tolerated organized crime doing unscrupulous business trafficking in the illegal disposal of even special waste. The situation in general is now improving, but the control of industrial processes cannot stop at the factory gates. Even more when waste is added to noise, vibrations, electromagnetic threats, use of polluting energy sources.
