EEA/ECHA - Strategia per la sostenibilità delle sostanze chimiche
L'Agenzia europea per l'ambiente (EEA), l'Agenzia europea per le sostanze chimiche (ECHA) e la Commissione europea (CE) hanno sviluppato un nuovo quadro di indicatori specifico, descritto nell' “EU indicator framework for chemicals (EEA Report 02/2024)”. Gli obiettivi di tale quadro sono monitorare i determinanti e i relativi impatti dell'inquinamento chimico, misurare l'efficacia dell’attuale legislazione e identificare le eventuali azioni future da porre in essere. Il quadro fa parte delle azioni implementate a sostegno della “Strategia UE in materia di sostanze chimiche per un ambiente sostenibile e privo di sostanze tossiche” (CSS), in linea con il Green Deal europeo. Tale strategia si prefigge due obiettivi: prevenire danni all’ambiente e alla salute dell’uomo (causati da sostanze chimiche pericolose e dai loro effetti tossici) e sostenere l'industria UE nella produzione di sostanze chimiche sicure e sostenibili.
Di seguito vengono indicati gli indicatori ISPRA che hanno una corrispondenza (non sempre univoca) con i relativi indicatori europei del suddetto core-set. In alcuni casi, un singolo indicatore ISPRA descrive uno o più indicatori del core-set europeo, o viceversa, più indicatori ISPRA descrivono un singolo indicatore del core-set di riferimento.
The indicator describes the status of the 42 Contaminated Sites of National Interest (SIN), which together cover 148,594 hectares of land surface (0.49% of the Italian territory) and 77,136 hectares of marine areas. This issue affects all Italian regions, except Molise. As of 30 June 2024, for 65% of the total area of the 36 SINs under consideration, information is available on the progress of the procedures: characterization has been completed for 59% of the soils and 55% of the groundwater, while remediation/safety measures have been approved by ministerial decree for 13% of the soil area and 17% of the groundwater. Procedures have been completed for 17% of the soils and 6% of the groundwater. The information provided by the indicator outlines a representative picture of environmental conditions and societal responses in relation to regulatory and sustainability objectives.
The indicator provides information on sites subject to regional remediation procedures, based on data extracted from regional registries and databases. In 2023, 38,556 sites were registered, of which 22,191 have completed the remediation process.
For 62% of the sites, at least one surface area value (administrative or technical) is available. The sites for which the administrative area is known number 21,711, equal to 56% of the procedures. Among the ongoing procedures, 59% of the sites are in the notification phase, 21% are developing or have developed the conceptual model, while 20% have approved interventions.
For 97% of the sites with ongoing remediation procedures, the contamination status is known: 6,400 are potentially contaminated, 3,974 are contaminated, and 5,502 are awaiting analytical assessments. Among the concluded procedures, in only 30% of cases was an intervention necessary, while in the remaining 70% the procedure concluded without any intervention.
In 2022, a year marked by a delicate international geopolitical context, the production of special waste generated by the national production system (industrial, commercial, artisanal, and service activities, as well as waste treatment and environmental remediation) recorded a decline compared to 2021. This trend was similar to that observed for urban waste, with total production amounting to 161.4 million tons (-2.1%, equivalent to 3.4 million tons). Non-hazardous waste, which accounts for 93.8% of total waste produced, decreased by 2.7 million tons (-1.8%), while hazardous waste dropped by almost 680,000 tons (-6.4%).
The construction sector continued to show an increase, although more contained than in the previous year, due to government incentives for building renovation aimed at improving energy efficiency, along with construction activities related to infrastructure, public works, residential, and commercial buildings.
The indicator relates the total emissions into the atmosphere generated by production processes in the chemical and petrochemical sectors to the total quantity produced, in order to evaluate the specific emissions generated by the production of a single unit of product. In 2020, compared to 2019, the specific emissions of NOx decreased by 16%, SOx emissions increased by 58%, while specific emissions of NMVOCs and CO showed reductions of 3% and 8% respectively.