Industry and sstenibility

Smart lighting: 5 billion investments from energy saving by 2030

Politecnico di Milano study on opportunities for the lighting industry at the Assil annual meeting

by Giovanna Mancini

3 June 2025

3' min read

Key points

Section numbers
Markets and sustainability: challenges for companies
The Polytechnic Study

3' min read

Five billion investments can be activated in the coming years by indoor and street lighting companies thanks to the NRP and the need to reach the CO2 emission reduction targets set by EU regulations by 2030.

An opportunity, undoubtedly, for a sector that in Italy is worth around 2.8 billion euro in turnover and employs 8,700 people. But there is no shortage of obstacles to the effective implementation of the necessary investments, often of a bureaucratic nature. Taking stock of the 'Market potential of smart lighting solutions in Italy' is a study by the Milan Polytechnic presented at the General Assembly of Assil, the National Association of Lighting Manufacturers.

Sector numbers

Let's start with the numbers provided by Assil: after two years of decline, the sector closed 2024 with an increase in production of more than 5%, which did not, however, generate an equal recovery in terms of turnover growth: in fact, there were four consecutive quarters of decline, which led to a negative annual variation of -7.5% (by 10% on the domestic market and 4.1% on the foreign market).

The industry's turnover therefore returned to 2021 levels. The end of the year, however, showed a drop in Italian exports by almost 3 percentage points, for an overall drop of around 50 million, and by more than 50% in quantities. The first quarter of 2025 also confirmed sagging trends, both in values in euro (-7.8%) and especially in quantities (-24.4%).

Markets and Sustainability: Challenges for Companies

"The market is not brilliant," confirms Carlo Comandini, president of the association. The 2024 market was affected by the end of the incentives that had driven the market in the last two years. The Politecnico study also shows an earlier peak, due to the effect of bonuses. In addition, global uncertainty has held back investment in recent quarters. We suffer in particular from the weakness in our reference markets: Germany, France and also the United States.

Another element of uncertainty concerns precisely the investments linked to energy saving and decarbonisation targets, which, at the moment, are "under attack", adds Comandini: "This is a problem, because we instead see the raising of market quality as an opportunity". This is precisely what the Politecnico's study focuses on, which evidences the existence of available resources, coming in part from the incentives and investments that are still high linked to the Pnrr and many regeneration or energy saving projects.

"Cthere are elements that would be in favour of development and investment for the next five years, but we must insist and rationalise the incentives and make them accessible, easier to use. I am thinking in particular of Industria 5.0, which places the emphasis precisely on sustainability,' adds the Assil president.

The Politecnico study

In detail, the Polimi study also examines the introduction of advanced lighting control systems, highlighting the energy savings that can be achieved in certain sectors of interest: museums, schools, hospitals, hotels, offices, retail, industry and public lighting.

Considering a highly energy-intensive sector such as hospitals, the study calculates that the introduction of 2,150 lighting points with an advanced management system for an investment of EUR 1.6 million, with 6,350 hours of operation, would guarantee an energy saving of 83% or 861 MWh per year, and 221 tonnes of CO2 emissions less. The expected payback time for the investment is around 2.3 years.

Taking street lighting as an example, an investment of 9.9 million euro for the introduction of 10,000 lighting points of advanced lighting systems with 4,380 hours of operation per year would achieve an energy saving in the order of 67% or 2.4 MWh. The CO2 savings are more than 980 tonnes, while the payback time for the investment is around 4.8 years.

According to estimates by the European Commission, switching to energy-efficient lighting products will save the individual consumer on average about EUR 30 per year and could lead to the avoidance of about 7 million tonnes of CO2 per year, due to energy savings of about 34 TWh.

'Although there is still much that can and must be done, this investment programme shows how the commitment of institutions, organisations and associations is strengthening not only at European but also at national level,' Comandini concludes.

Giovanna ManciniRedattore ordinario
- @mancinica
Luogo: Milano
Lingue parlate: Italiano, inglese, tedesco
Argomenti: Industria del design e arredo, made in Italy, cronaca di Milano, consumi, industria del commercio, e-commerce
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