Lorenzo Bertelli: 'Companies like ours are examples of true sustainability'
The Prada Group's head of corporate social responsibility explains the successes and challenges of the Sea Beyond project, conducted in partnership with Unesco, which aims to create awareness about ocean preservation by promoting education
3' min read
3' min read
Sea Beyond demonstrates how sensitive people are to talking about the dangers to the environment ('we have no planet B', to use a phrase dear to activists) and also shows what a genuine elective affinity there can be between a company, a brand and the public, understood in the broadest sense of the term. An affinity confirmed by Lorenzo Bertelli: 'Right from the start of Sea Beyond, we had hoped for a significant response, both for the highly topical issues dealt with in the educational module for secondary schools and for the involvement of Unesco, whose experts inocean literacy trained the teachers of the participating schools. But the take-up exceeded our expectations,' he says. Since the start of the programme, enrolments have risen from about 200 students in 2020 to almost 35,000 in 2024, now from 184 schools and 56 countries. The third educational cycle will end in November with the awarding of prizes to the three schools that have presented the most interesting projects'.
In words, sustainability is high on the corporate agenda, but it is undeniable that the path taken by the Prada group stands out in a world where, unfortunately, greenwashing is not uncommon. "I think what makes Prada's approach special is that everyone is called upon to contribute to the community. Companies like ours, which can count on significant visibility, have a responsibility to set an example, and we firmly believe that tangible changes can only come about through education and the promotion of culture, which has always been an integral part of our group's sustainability strategy'.
Sea Beyond is part of a journey that began before 2020 and will continue: 'Another important commitment is the Forestami Academy, a training programme in collaboration with Forestami, which offers citizens a learning opportunity on the subject of urban forestry,' Lorenzo Bertelli emphasises. 'Then there is the project Fashion Expressions: The Stories She Wears, conducted with Unfpa, the United Nations Population Fund, which is aimed at young women in vulnerable situations and offers them training courses in fashion, while educating them on sexual and reproductive health issues.
Sea Beyond has allowed the Prada group to get in touch with researchers and activists from many countries, and some stories would deserve an in-depth study in their own right: "Since 2019 I have heard many tales of passion for the sea, and I retain a memory of each one. One story that particularly struck me is that of a class of Peruvian students, from Newton College in Lima, authors of the winning project in 2022: a charity auction of works of art with the proceeds of which they then financed training activities dedicated to the protection of marine ecosystems,' recalls Bertelli. A student from that class, with one of his classmates, used the monetary prize received through our competition to found an NGO, Ocanica, which aims to promote ocean education among students, with activities ranging from theatre performances for primary schools to interactive exhibitions for kindergarten children. I really appreciated the 'entrepreneurial' skills of these guys'.
Lastly, Lorenzo Bertelli emphasises the positive role of technology, which young people handle with the utmost naturalness: "The new generations have a greater sensitivity towards environmental issues, confirmed by Sea Beyond's numbers, and their predisposition to use technology can be very useful for effectively engaging young people and conveying certain messages more directly. In the scouting activity of Sea Beyond projects, we also see, with increasing frequency, proposals that include a research and study component associated with the use of technology, with the aim of having data immediately available and making them available to the scientific community, in order to advance together on the terrain of knowledge. This is of great value to me,' Bertelli concludes. 'Exploiting technology as a vehicle to amplify projects, bringing data to a larger number of people, who in turn will be able to benefit from it in order to ground new research.
