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Sustainable Development Festival: looking to the future to change the present

Sustainable Development Festival: looking to the future to change the present

The transition of society towards new sustainable models of production and consumption is the key to initiating transversal environmental, social and economic benefits across every level. However, coordinated and joint effort is needed so that countries can strive, in a substantial way, to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.

 

It is on this premise that the 8th edition of the Sustainable Development Festival is based, of which we are partners again this year. This itinerant event with an international scope is promoted by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), and will bring a calendar of more than a thousand events and appointments to six Italian cities, from May 7 to 23, which can also be enjoyed online.

 

It is a microcosm of meetings, panels and seminars, as well as opportunities for outreach and entertainment, through which ASviS aims to raise awareness and mobilize citizens, businesses, associations and institutions by sharing scenarios and proposals to accelerate Italy’s path towards sustainable development.

The role of companies in the challenge of sustainability

Companies continue to play a fundamental role in this framework. It is no coincidence that the official opening of the festival was held in the historic Olivetti headquarters located in Ivrea. This emblematic site of Italian industrial culture hosted panels and generated reflections urging the manufacturing world to act with determination toward the realization of new sustainable and responsible models that are mindful of the environmental needs as much as the wellbeing of people and society as a whole.

 

Our Group’s strategy fosters and encourages this approach. This was highlighted by Silvia Fellegara, Head of Sustainability Italy, in her speech on May 3 in Rome at the press conference for the festival. She shared the importance of promoting and accelerating the energy transition and pointed out the profound impact that sustainability has on our lives.

 

In fact, sustainability has a social aspect for our Group: we place people at the center by relying on individuals’ motivation, sense of responsibility, active participation and entrepreneurial approach. We promote continuous learning through programs to improve existing skills in order to access more advanced career paths and to gain new capabilities, while at the same time paying attention to the people involved in the decarbonization process.

 

Our commitment is also fulfilled through company volunteering, a program through which we involve our people in numerous projects capable of creating shared value together with communities and the territory, and which represents a fundamental lever of sustainability in this sense. Our colleagues can take one day per year of regular paid leave to participate in activities to promote environmental protection and combat poverty and social exclusion in collaboration with third sector entities. The results are encouraging. In 2023, almost 1000 colleagues from all over Italy took part in volunteer days, gaining moments of professional and personal growth and making our strategy for development more tangible. A development that must be sustainable but also equitable and shared, leaving no one behind.

This view is supported by the ASviS Spring Report entitled “Scenarios for Italy in 2030 and in 2050. Choices to be made now for sustainable development.”  The report was presented on May 7 at the opening of the festival. The study, conducted in collaboration with Oxford Economics, reinforces how the cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of action, through an analysis of the possible scenarios in 2030 and 2050. We must begin from the demonstrated relationship between the energy transition and macroeconomic variables to detect the policies and investments that can not only avert the most catastrophic prospects but also ensure long-term growth in the socioeconomic conditions of Italy and all the countries involved. It clearly demonstrates that sustainability is not only necessary but worthwhile.

 

During the panel “Looking to the future to change the present: business and finance facing the challenge of sustainability”, our Head of Italy, Nicola Lanzetta, reiterated that the report offers an opportunity to reflect on crucial issues to which, as Enel, we are concretely committed for the growth of Italy, an area central to the Group’s strategic Plan. The plan includes more than 17 billion euros of investment over three years, 12 billion of which are dedicated to upgrading the distribution grid to further increase its performance, resilience and capacity to accommodate distributed renewable generation. This growth starts with people, which is the real energy that pushes us to be sustainable from every viewpoint.

 

Lanzetta also spoke about our commitment to young people through programs such as Energie per la Scuola, a career training and guidance course we put in motion to reduce school dropout rates and guide the younger generation into the jobs of the future.

All the festival events

After the inauguration in Ivrea, the festival came to the Turin Book Fair from May 9 to 11, to explore the many connections between the environment, culture and communication. The festival then headed to Bologna, on May 14 and 15, with an in-depth look at the future of cities and the commitment of companies and institutions towards the advancement of green city planning and smart cities.

 

In Milan, from May 17 to 20, the focus is on the value of the territory and its communities, agents of change that must be involved in any sustainable development strategy. And finally, on May 21 in Palermo, the festival’s focus will be on civic issues that represent the critical challenges of our time: inequality, poverty, discrimination and social marginalization.

 

The Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome is the event’s symbolic home for the duration of the festival, hosting numerous events focused on the individual Sustainable Development Goals to reaffirm adherence to the principles and modalities expressed in the UN 2030 Agenda. The closing event on May 23 is also scheduled to be held in Rome, during which the analyses and proposals generated from the festival will be officially presented to the government during a meeting in the Aula dei Gruppi of the Chamber of Deputies.

 

The festival offers a rich program of events and initiatives to which we have contributed again this year, sharing the Group’s commitment to the energy transition, growth and the wellbeing of people and the territory.

 

Discover all the events of the Sustainable Development Festival