Esg lab for business transition launched in Genoa

Supporting companies in the environmental, digital social and governance transition processes, in line with the provisions of the NRP. This is the purpose of Intesa Sanpaolo's Liguria ESG Laboratory, which was inaugurated in recent weeks at the premises of the Genoa blue district, in the city centre. The Ligurian facility is part of a series of similar initiatives activated, in recent months, by the banking group in 15 other Italian cities, including, in the Northwest, Turin, Cuneo, Milan, Bergamo and Brescia.

The Liguria ESG Lab, explained Andrea Perusin, Intesa's regional director for Southern Piedmont and Liguria, and Alberto Anfossi, secretary general of the Compagnia di San Paolo foundation, "has the ambition of becoming a meeting place for local SMEs, accompanying them on a path of long-term growth and competitiveness, with positive impacts on the environment and the community.

The workshop's task will be 'to stimulate business awareness of environmental, social and governance issues, promote discussion, and share experiences'. The activity, therefore, assure the promoters of the initiative (who are also the Genoa Chamber of Commerce, the La Spezia Port Authority, Intesa innovation centre, and Srm) will be strongly focused on the characteristics of the metropolitan city and Liguria, with a focus on the economy of the sea and on the territory's capacity for innovation, represented by various local institutes (Iit and Genoa University), associations (including Genoa smart city), and municipal companies (such as the Genoa blue district and the Job centre).

Advisory, information, assessment and action identification services will be offered together with a number of partners: Circularity (an industrial symbiosis platform dedicated to the circular economy in Italy, which can support companies in integrating sustainability and circular economy principles into their business), Nativa (B corp and benefit company, which implements the sustainability of companies to improve their business results), Ce Lab (born from the partnership between Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and Cariplo Factory, to contribute to the evolution of the Italian economic system and accelerate the transition towards circular economy models) and, finally, Lexacta (which carries out consultancy activities in the field of governance).

As far as the maritime sector in particular is concerned, this, emphasises Massimo Deandreis, director general of Srm (a research centre that is part of Intesa), "is of strategic value for Liguria, thanks to the presence of more than 1,500 companies in the supply chain and just over €5.7 billion of added value. In addition, the ports of Genoa-Savona Vado and La Spezia have a geostrategic value for Italy's international projection, both towards the Mediterranean and central Europe; a role that will be further strengthened with the completion of the planned investments in the port areas and for the Third Valico. Added to this is the consolidated presence of the largest international logistics operators. Helping companies in this process is fundamental and represents the sense of the nascent Liguria Esg Laboratory to which Srm, as the Intesa Group's study centre specialising in these issues, is happy to make a contribution".