It was finance, even before the real economy, to ride the theme of sustainability. A trend that promises to revolutionize the very way of producing and managing services, even more sectors hard they begin to approach. Automotive, textile, chemical, oil & gas, shipbuilding. These are just some of the industrial vocations of the North West that will have to deal with the need to reduce energy consumption, make production processes more efficient, and measure the social and environmental impact. «For these industrial sectors – comments Mario Calderini, professor at the School of Management of the Politecno di Milano responsible for Turin Social Impact – the phase of awareness has closed. It has been a side issue for years while now it is confirmed as a central theme ». It is no coincidence that companies, starting with SMEs, turn to the university to ask for help. «There are many companies that ask for support to implement – says Calderini – good practices in the field of sustainability. I believe there are two very different markets: that of large multinationals which turns to large consulting firms to “be measured”. Then there is the world of SMEs that need a more tailored measurement, to enhance the weight of certain investments and the social reach of this type of company “.
Making sustainability for manufacturing “is another game” compared to sectors such as energy and services. The push towards digitalization has made its part in this process of “streamlining” production processes – less waste, greater efficiency, higher performance – while now the energy “question” and the upward dynamics of raw material prices are pushing towards a new possible leap in quality. The automotive sector, which counts just under 40% of the companies concentrated in Piedmont, “has entered the game along two different paths – analyzes Calderini – for large companies through the road indicated by finance, with the need to align production with indication of funds and stakeholders, the small ones did so driven by the relationships within the supply chain ». Today sustainability, he adds, “represents one of the performance criteria for becoming suppliers to large groups”.
There are two topical issues in the industrial field, regarding sustainability. The first is that the theme has so far been developed on environmental factors, “but 2022 – Calderini predicts – will undoubtedly be the year in which the theme of social impact will be imposed”. The second is that measuring the social impact of businesses and production processes is much more complex than measuring the environmental impact.
The issue of social impact, Calderini points out, tends to go into direct rivalry with the issue of profit but for SMEs of hard industrial supply chains it could be easier to assert their social value in communities, the positive effects on work and the territory, and so on. “It is a value – underlines Calderini – which often struggles to emerge from the ESG objectives grids and which needs different indicators to emerge”. But at what point is economic science and, above all, Europe in this matter? “In recent weeks – replies Calderini – the discussion in Europe on social taxonomy is ending, that is, on criteria, methods and indicators for measuring the social impact that is currently in the hands of large financial operators and little instead of large companies. manufacturing. In an economy like the Italian one, these manufacturing companies, starting with the small ones, count for a lot and should make their voices heard at this stage ».
At what point are the companies? The latest Istat report on the subject reveals that companies are highly sensitive to the issue of sustainability, starting with the environment. The highest value is recorded on average by companies with over 250 employees (84.2%), with an average that however exceeds 66% and which sees the area of Northwest Italy by a couple of points below the threshold of attention registered for companies in other areas. On the front of work well-being, a purely social issue connected to sustainability, the percentage of attention from companies is a couple of points higher, despite the fact that the Northwest registers a slightly lower average. If the issue of sustainability, therefore, holds its own, the question of social impact is more complex for companies. In fact, a little more than one in three companies supports or implements initiatives of collective interest, just under one in three supports or implements initiatives for the benefit of the productive fabric of its territory. Also in this case, companies in the Northwest area recorded slightly lower percentages, a sign that practicing sustainability is a much heavier task for more traditional sectors. In this historical phase we are in the heart of the game. “The risk of simply making a facade operation on sustainability is now behind us – highlights Calderini – and it seems to me averted”. The issue of sustainability is getting serious, so much so that the University of Turin is working on a master’s degree course to train sustainability managers.