To accelerate on the sustainability front, we need to be systemic. The city of Parma’s “climate contract,” the result of teamwork among institutions, businesses, associations and companies, is proof of this. The plan to achieve climate neutrality by 2030 is worth more than 5 billion. “The goal is clear and all 46 signatories are already putting in place a series of actions to achieve it,” explained Parma Mayor Michele Guerra during the opening event of Green Week. “Sustainability must become affordable to be attractive,” he added. Last year the municipality managed to reduce electricity and heat consumption by 25 percent, saving 1.5 million euros in utility bills.”
ChangeBetting on this change are all the actors in the area. “The business world is strongly involved in the challenge, but we need to begin to understand where too much is being asked. SMEs are having a harder time investing in innovation, we need to help them achieve these goals,” stressed Gabriele Buia, president of the Parma Union of Industrialists. Banks can make a decisive contribution on this, as Giampiero Maioli, ceo of Crédit Agricole Italia, confirmed. The 4 billion Transition 5.0 plan to help companies, particularly smaller ones, implement green and digital transition projects could provide further acceleration but, as Corriere della Sera Deputy Editor Daniele Manca mentioned, has not yet been implemented. The challenge is to make the transition sustainable from an economic point of view as well. An aspect that is not sufficiently taken into account in the EU Green Deal, according to Feralpi Group President Giuseppe Pasini, with the risk of losing “the manufacturing system that has made Italy and Europe strong” and competing with China and the United States. When there was a need to make its voice heard in Brussels, however, Italy often moved late, and not only through the fault of policymakers. “So far, as a confindustrial system, we have not been able to speak at the tables at the right times,” says Alessandro Chiesi, president of the Chiesi Group and “Parma, I’m in!”, who recalled the Transition Farm initiative, involving the University of Parma, activated in the area to train young people on sustainability and equip companies with a system to measure their results.
Young peopleThe need to bring new knowledge to businesses was also addressed by Fulvia Bacchi, general manager of Unic tanneries in Italy. Attracting young people is crucial, and those who innovate the most are able to do so more easily, reiterated Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation. In manufacturing, 40 percent of companies have already taken the path of sustainability. The issue is also increasingly present in the agribusiness sector, as confirmed by the president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, Nicola Bertinelli. The growth of the green economy is an irreversible trend, and the direction set by the EU is the right one, according to Filippo Zuppichin, ad of Piovan Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of automation systems for the plastics and food industries. Cities and businesses can become drivers of change, according to Monica Araya, executive director International European Climate Foundation. Provided they can convince their interlocutors inside and outside EU borders that it is worth it.