“Green Italy 2012”: 38.2% of new jobs are green

Green economy and eco-convergence as a crisis-busting recipe: 23.6% of Italian businesses believe in the green revolution

(Rinnovabili.it) – “To come through the crisis and carve out a space for itself in a changing world, Italy must do what it’s best at”. Ermete Realacci has no doubts: in order to face up to the challenges of today and tomorrow, the green economy is the way forward, and it must combine with the strength of the “Made in Italy” label. In other words, changes must be made “starting out from Italy’s talents”. For this reason, the President of the Symbola Foundation Realacci today joined the President of Unioncamere Ferruccio Dardanello to present the  GreenItaly 2012 Report, an accurate snapshot of the move Italy’s entire economic system is making towards ecosustainability and the profits associated with it.

The analysis contained in the document shows that the positive aspect of the crisis is that it has shifted the development model towards greater environmental sustainability, as well as greater quality and efficiency, to the extent that in the last three years one of every four businesses in the industrial and tertiary sector (23.6% of the total, i.e. almost 360 thousand businesses) has invested in products and technologies able to ensure greater energy saving or lower environmental impact.

Innovation is one of the hallmarks of Italian businesses, and appears to be closely linked to sustainability: in 2011 37.9% of companies that invest in ecosustainability introduced innovations in products and services, as compared to 18.3% of those that do not make green investments. Green companies are therefore clearly oriented towards innovation, and also towards export, considering that 37.4% of businesses that invest in green technologies are present on foreign markets, as compared to 22% of those who do not make such investments.

The employment sector is also beginning to learn that this new trend is among the most profitable, so much so that 38.2% (241 thousand) of the total new jobs planned by Italian industrial and service companies for the current year are created by companies that invest in green technologies. Where are the largest number of these “green at heart” companies located? According to the report, the list is headed by Lombardy, with 69 thousand businesses, followed by Veneto with almost 34 thousand and Lazio with 33 thousand.