Position Paper 2020 - An alliance for the circular future of the country
With the aim of advancing the "true" circularity, the one that wants to minimize the consumption of matter in all its forms, the Alliance for the Circular Economy was born involving Made in Italy companies, leaders in different production sectors. Today the growth of interest in the initiative and the increase in the number of participating companies and the fields represented, translates into 18 Italian companies involved, 139 billion in turnover and 319 thousand employees.
Also Intesa Sanpaolo - already active on the circular economy through the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, a company of the group dedicated to the innovation frontier, founder in 2018, together with Cariplo Factory, of the Circular Economy Lab initiative - signs for the country’s circular future.
In the transition to the Circular Economy, the Alliance for the Circular Economy sees, in the light of the worsening climate crisis, made even more evident by the emergency of Covid-19, an opportunity to relaunch the country and interpreter of the transformation that innovates production processes and business models combining competitiveness and environmental sustainability.
On 12th November, with the institutional launch of the Position Paper 2020, not only the vision, ideas and experiences that guide the Alliance, but above all the road map towards a circular economic model, declined in opportunities and concrete objectives, were presented.
In the perspective of an implementation of the horizons of the European Commission’s European Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan 2020, the document identifies the main drivers of development and proposes, in comparison with government representatives, concrete actions for the implementation of circularity in Italy.
These are the 5 macro-objectives that the Alliance outlines in Position Paper 2020, identifying the developments of recent years, and to be achieved through 3 «flagship» proposals - strategy for the circular economy, new impetus to green public procurement, new environmental taxation - and 23 detailed actions aimed at fully exploiting the potential for economic, social, environmental and decarbonisation related to the circular economy. A potential that would result in a 7% increase in investment and a 10% reduction in raw materials costs by 2030, over 700,000 new jobs in Europe, a 56% drop in CO2 emissions by 2050 in Italy.
The Position Paper 2020 analysis explores in particular the potential of the circular economy in the areas of competence of its members: energy and utilities, finance, chemistry and engineering, circular and bioplastic bioeconomy, tourism, consumer goods, fashion and luxury, catering, shipbuilding and transport.
The event was also an opportunity for the companies of the Alliance - A2A, Aquafil, Bvlgari, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Cetena (Gruppo Fincantieri), CIRFOOD, Costa Crociere, Enel, ERG, FaterSMART, Gruppo Hera, Intesa Sanpaolo, NextChem (Gruppo Maire Tecnimont), Novamont, Salvatore Ferragamo, THResorts e Touring Club Italiano - to tell the projects actually implemented in favor of circularity and that, in some cases, represent a declination of the company’s core business in others, a driver to rethink their model.
The financial sector plays a key role in the transition to sustainable business models, due to the possibility of promoting good practice in this field using leverage. In recent years, the circular economy has been one of the main objects of investment and, in general, financial institutions aim to play an important role by exploiting their ability to support production chains and create networks. A demonstration of this is the launch of dedicated initiatives, the allocation of earmarked funds to support the transition and the numerous cases of allocating specific investment funds.