Italian industry on the road to pragmatic sustainability

For the first time, industry overtakes hyper-regulated sustainability sectors such as finance and energy in the list of Sustainability Leaders compiled by Statista and Il Sole 24 Ore. After four years of dominance of the ranking by industries subject to stringent ESG regulations requiring ironclad compliance, the industrial products and components sector is the most represented in 2025, with 13.8% of the 'magnificent 240'. The rainfall of European regulations - 100 in fact initiated by the first von der Leyen Commission - has made Italian industry run for cover. An industry that despite being only minimally subject, for the time being, to the compliance of the dreaded Csrd, Csddd, Ets 1 and 2 directives (to name but a few) has initiated the hoped-for ecological turnaround necessary to curb global warming and climate change on the planet. But the ecological and energy transition is being undertaken pragmatically, not ideologically or unrealistically, with achievable goals capable of bringing concrete benefits: from savings on energy bills to cutting waste. Also undoubtedly contributing to the turnaround underway have been the announcements of the NRP, the new Procurement Code and the ESG ratings required by banks for every financial transaction: disruptive elements on the Italian scene that are pushing all companies to collect the environmental, social and governance data needed to obtain financing or win public and private contracts.

Similar pragmatism is now permeating the second von der Leyen Commission, which is pushing the EU towards a less bureaucratic and more sensible implementation of the Green Deal in terms of implementation timeframes and the scope of businesses under stringent regulation.

Encouraging signs of increased awareness on these issues come from the list of Sustainability Leaders 2025. Compared to the previous edition, the indicators for the 35 key performance indicators (Kpi) analysed by Statista analysts at their headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, have in fact improved in the 40 small and medium-sized companies on the list. "From the analysis of more than two thousand companies whose sustainability reports we analysed, extracting the 240 with the best performance in the three areas of sustainability (environmental, social and economic), we found peaks of excellence especially on safety at work and transparency, an essential element of good governance (in both cases with excellent scores for more than 90% of the companies," says Lisa Dei, head of research for Statista. "On the other hand, all the companies considered have wide margins for improvement on the energy component of the environmental dimension: excellence was only reached by 32% of large companies and 40% of SMEs. For the future, we expect better performance especially on the fronts of energy efficiency, the use of energy from renewable sources, the creation of greener company fleets, and the electrification of industrial plants'.

As for the location of the Leaders of Sustainability 2025, as usual, the lion's share of the ranking is taken by companies from Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, which together account for more than half of the award-winners. "Encouraging signs are coming from Tuscany, Trentino Alto Adige, Campania and Marche, while Puglia and Sicily are losing out; unfortunately the South is still underrepresented, even though it has peaks of excellence,' explains Lisa Dei.

"All the companies on the list, even the 40 SMEs, recognise the value of sustainability reporting with a view to improving their organisation and business, as well as achieving savings on materials used and energy saved," notes the Statista analyst. "The list is presented in alphabetical order, as a sign of praise and encouragement to all the companies on the list, all of which are Leaders. We can, however, point out that in the first places we find Camst, Lati Industria Termoplastici and Pmi Caleffi, three companies active in different economic sectors but united by the same effort to become more sustainable'.