The opportunity

From forests to agriculture, Italy in the carbon credit market

Legislation is delayed, but platforms have sprung up offering companies certified projects to offset emissions and protect biodiversity. All implemented on the peninsula

by Alexis Paparo

8 May 2025

4' min read

Key points

A growing market
Active projects in Italy

4' min read

2025 may be the breakthrough year for the Italian market of carbon credits, securities equivalent to one tonne of Co2 not emitted or absorbed thanks to an environmental protection project. The public register of Italian carbon credits, set up in 2023, for which the implementation decrees of the Ministry of the Environment (Mase) and the Ministry of Agriculture (Masaf) are lacking, is delayed. But platforms are emerging that allow the exchange of validated carbon credits in other ways, starting with regenerative agriculture, timber construction, energy requalification. A local and verifiable answer to the doubts - which emerged in 2023 as a result of media enquiries - about the reliability of certain types of credits in developing countries.

A growing market

From compliance with Esg criteria to facilitating access to finance and ethical commitment. There are many reasons why Italian companies are looking at the carbon credit market and demand is growing. According to the report Forest Sustainability Projects 2021-2022, published in October 2024 by the Carbon Monitoring Unit of Crea (Council for Research in Agriculture and Analysis of Agricultural Economics), 80% of the overall market - from 2011 to 2022 - is due to2021/2022 transactions. Only 7% of the credits purchased by companies were generated in Italy, the rest came from projects in developing countries. The absence of a normative - and the consequent slowness with which the country generates saleable credits - is a missed business opportunity, especially for the forestry and agricultural sectors.

With the entry into force of the EU Regulation 2024/3012 (Carbon removals and carbon farming certification regulation) at the end of 2024, the European Commission will have to set up aSingle EU Credit Tracking Register by 2028, but many states - from Germany to Sweden - have been running national registers for years, with the aim of interoperability with the EU one.

Active projects in Italy

Rete Clima, which has been active since 2012, has a two-pronged approach: 'We are waiting for the launch of the Italian register of voluntary agro-forestry carbon credits to propose them to companies,' explains Paolo Viganò, president and founder of Rete Clima. 'In the meantime, we offer certified international projects with a high rating (a 'quality score' ranging from AAA to D as in the financial field), which provides for the cancellation of credits on international registers. At the same time, we accompany companies in the implementation ofNature based solutions in Italy, which are being developed as part of Foresta Italia, the largest private forestation and maintenance campaign, which will start in 2022'.

To date, 130,000 plants have been planted through 75 projects in urban and suburban areas in 20 regions. More than 90 companies are involved, to which measurements of forest growth and a quantification of the ecosystem services provided by forests are returned. "At the end of May, we will launch a digital system geared towards the conservation of biodiversity," Viganò continues. "It is based on mathematical models, local measurement tools, satellite data, citizen science and the support of the Ia: it assesses the level of biodiversity of ecosystems and measures their improvement as a result of projects supported by companies.

Harley&Dikkinson, a company active in the real estate redevelopment sector, has developed a methodology for the creation of credits based on the calculation and verification of Co2 emissions avoided with redevelopment interventions. The methodology involves the calculation of pre-intervention consumption and the design and realisation of efficiency enhancement works such as thermal insulation, photovoltaics and high-performance fixtures. Massimo Nissoli, co-founder and ceo of Harley&Dikkinson Esg, explains: "After the works, actual consumption is monitored with digital instruments and normalised to exclude variables such as empty flats or mild winters. Only the part attributable to the interventions can be converted into credits, once validated by a third party".

These days, thetrading section of carbon credits from agricultural activities of the TRA.D.E platform, active since 2023 with carbon footprint calculation activities involving 126 companies, between Sicily and Lazio: agricultural and wine companies, salt works, companies in the petrochemical, service and hospitality sectors, will also be operational. Acting as a collector between TRA.D.E and the companies were the chambers of commerce of Trapani and Caltanissetta and Confservizi Lazio.

"The platform guides companies to certification thanks to the partnership with Rina," explain founders Alessandra Colletti and Mauro Porcelli, "by anchoring the data to digital records via Nfts (Non fungible tokens, digital certificates that attest ownership of an asset). In fact, we prepared them to sell the credits'. Colletti explains that the compensation operations are measured in tonnes of Co2 equivalents, 'deriving both from Co2 reduction and capture projects initiated by TRA.D.E's partner companies, and from initiatives carried out in Italy, in partnership with Crea'.

"The registration of credits takes place through blockchain," explains Gianluca Tirozzi, president of bitCorp, the Italian cybersecurity company behind the platform's algorithm, "and allows for compensation between companies, but also for credits to be sold on Nft marketplaces. The credit marketplace has much potential: according to Colletti, 'it could be applied to agri-voltaics, planting species that capture more carbon. Or extended to the projects Italy is launching in Africa, through the Mattei Plan'.