In Italy, one in three companies, in the period 2015-2019, invested in green products and technologies. The country is also in second place for exports of green products and has the highest percentage of recycling out of all the waste produced. This can be seen from a study by the Symbola Foundation, “Italy in 10 selfie 2021”, made with Unioncamere and Assocamerestero and with the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which photographs precisely as many points strength of the “made in Italy”. Such, too, to signify strengths both in terms of growth and economic competitiveness, in the challenge of the green transition.
And therefore, we are champions in the recycling business, with 73.9% of waste started compared to the European average of 39.2%. We are also the first country in Europe for waste reduction (42.3 tons per million euro produced). Furthermore, with its subsidiary Green Power, Enel is the largest private operator in the world in the renewable energy sector, with 47 GW of managed capacity in the third quarter of 2020. We have already seen investments and exports in the green sector, we can also talk about design: Italy is the European country with the most companies in this sector, with 15.5% of the EU total.
We continue. In the nautical sector we are leaders in terms of trade balance, with more than 2 billion dollars (2.2), ahead of the United Kingdom (1.5), the Netherlands (1.4), Germany (0.7) and Poland (0, 5), and we are also among the largest exporters, second only to the Netherlands, ahead of the UK, USA, France and Germany. Made in Italy boating has a global turnover of 4.78 billion euros, of which 1.64 billion in the domestic market, and 23,510 direct employees, which become over 180,000 considering the entire supply chain.
We also take the furniture. The made in Italy furniture wood industry is first in the Old Continent in the circular economy (93% of chipboard panels is made of recycled wood) and produces fewer climate-altering emissions than all other EU countries. The trade balance of the sector is 9.8 billion dollars, after China and Poland. Do we also want to talk about agriculture? Ours is one of the most sustainable in Europe, with 30 million tons of C02. Just to say, France is at 76 tons. The Italian agri-food exports are worth 46.1 billion, up 18% on 2019.
It’s not over. There is also the pharmaceutical sector, which sees us as Europe’s leader for production, with 32.2 billion euros. Exports grow by 168%, almost double the EU average. And, finally, we are the leading bicycle exporter in Europe, with 609 million euros: we sell over 1.7 million pieces abroad. The total turnover of the 3,128 companies in the sector is 1.03 billion euros.