Strategy for Sustainable Development in Italy

The indicator represents the historical series of national greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2022, broken down by sector. The data analysis shows a significant reduction in emissions in 2022 compared to 1990 (-21%), which can be explained by the economic recession that has slowed consumption in recent years, as well as by an increased use of renewable energy, leading to a reduction in CO2 emissions from the energy sector (-20% compared to 1990).

The indicator represents, over the period 1990-2022, the trend of greenhouse gas emissions in Italy per capita and relative to GDP. A decrease is observed for both, accentuated by the growth of the population and GDP, which highlights a decoupling between drivers and pressures.

In 2022, Italy's primary environmental expenditure increased by 163% compared to 2021, reflecting a greater political interest in environmental issues. However, the share of key sectors (biodiversity and landscape protection, forest and wildlife management) in total environmental spending declined from 9.1% to 4.2%.

Despite the increase in available resources, spending capacity varies across sectors, with efficiency rates ranging from 88.5% for biodiversity to 69.1% for forest management. This trend highlights the need to optimize investments to ensure the protection of natural heritage, in alignment with the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda.

Territorial fragmentation is the process that leads to a progressive reduction in the area of natural and semi-natural environments and an increase in their isolation. This process, which transforms large land patches into smaller and more isolated parts, is primarily driven by urban expansion phenomena, which can take more or less sustainable forms, and the development of infrastructure networks aimed at improving connections between urbanized areas through linear works. In 2023, 42.34% of the national territory was classified as highly and very highly fragmented. The regions with the largest areas of very high fragmentation are Veneto (39.98%), Lombardia (33.57%), Emilia-Romagna (25.87%), and Campania (25.69%). This data confirms the strong correlation between fragmentation and urbanization density.

The indicator illustrates the national emission trends of tropospheric ozone precursors—namely nitrogen oxides (NOx) and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs)—disaggregated by emission source sector. A significant overall decline is observed between 1990 and 2022, amounting to -71% for NOx and -58% for NMVOCs, primarily driven by substantial reductions in emissions from the transport sector.

Internal Material Consumption (IMC) measures the apparent consumption of material resources within an economy. It is the main indicator derived from material flow accounts, used to assess a country's resource Productivity as part of policies on natural resource use. In 2023, Italy's Internal Material Consumption amounted to 498.4 million tonnes (-2.7% compared to the previous year), and Resource Productivity stood at 3.59 EUR/kg (+3.7% compared to the previous year).

Nel 2023, la percentuale di raccolta differenziata è pari al 66,6% della produzione nazionale (29,3 milioni di tonnellate) (+1,4 punti percentuali rispetto al 2022), mantenendosi al di sopra dell’obiettivo fissato dalla normativa per il 2012 (65%).

In 2023, the total amount of municipal waste disposed of in landfills amounted to approximately 4.6 million tonnes, with 112 landfill facilities in operation nationwide. Compared to 2022, this represents a 10.8% reduction in the total quantity of municipal waste landfilled (equivalent to -559,000 tonnes) and a 4.3% decrease in the number of operational sites (-5 facilities).

n 2023, organic farming in Italy covered 2,456,020 hectares, involving approximately 94,400 organic operators. Organic agriculture accounted for 7.4% of all farms and 19.8% of the utilised agricultural area (UAA), according to the 2021 ISTAT Census, falling 5.2 percentage points short of the 25% UAA target for organic farming. 

Over the past 33 years, the trend has been upward in both the number of operators and cultivated area, countering the long-standing decline in utilised agricultural area in Italy.

 At the European level, Italy ranks among the most virtuous Member States.

Comparison within the European Union highlights that Italy's primary and final energy intensity remains below the European average. This is largely due to historical lack of domestic primary energy sources, —which has fostered energy-saving behaviours, efficient infrastructure, and a relatively low energy-intensive production structure—as well as a high level of energy taxation (which has raised end-user energy prices above those in other countries), lower per capita income, and a relatively mild climate. Based on a ranking of countries by increasing primary energy intensity, Italy ranks 7th among European nations.

In 2020, the share of energy from renewable sources in Italy reached 20.4% of gross final energy consumption, exceeding the national target of 17% set for 2020. In 2021, the share decreased to 18.9%, and in 2022 it slightly rose to 19.1%, recording an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The percentage of treated wastewater reflects the amount of biodegradable organic load that reaches urban wastewater treatment plants compared to the total organic load produced by agglomerations (2,000 PE or more) across the national territory. In 2022-2023, this percentage is 93.51%, an increase compared to 2020 (93.3%).

The indicator evaluates the demand for freight transport (also in relation to economic growth) and the evolution over time of modal split. The transport demand is increasingly met by road freight transport, which continues to dominate other transport modes in terms of growth and modal share (approximately 62% in 2023).

The indicator measures passenger transport demand (according to different modes) and compares its trend with that of economic growth and population. Transport demand is increasingly met by individual road transport (passenger cars and motorcycles), which, due to its growth and modal share (approximately 81% in 2023), remains dominant compared to other transport modes.

This indicator tracks the share of road vehicles complying with the most recent emission standards during the 2005-2022 period. In 2022, passenger cars still showed a non-negligible proportion (13.7%) of Euro 0 gasoline vehicles, while for diesel cars this share was significantly lower at approximately 2.9%. More concerning is the commercial vehicle fleet situation - predominantly diesel-powered - where 11.2% of light commercial vehicles (vans) and 27.1% of heavy goods vehicles remain at Euro 0 standard.

The circular material use rate measures the share of material resources reused by an economy. In the period 2004–2022, Italy's circular material use rate increased from 5.8% to 18.7%.
 

The European Commission has adopted the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (SEB 2030, COM(2020) 380 final), which sets the objective for Member States to protect at least 30% of their national territory and 30% of their seas, with at least one-third of these areas being strictly protected. These objectives are also incorporated into the National Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (SNB 2030).

The indicator integrates spatial data from the main biodiversity protection systems existing in Italy (protected areas and the Natura 2000 Network), calculating the current protected surface both on land and at sea. It evaluates the variation from 1991 to 2023 and highlights the gap between the percentage of protected land and marine areas and the 30% target set by SEB 2030. The data used to calculate the extent of the protected area come from CDDA and the Natura 2000 database. Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECM) are not included, as the types of areas that may fall within this category have not yet been defined.

As of today, the total national coverage of protected areas, after accounting for overlaps between protected areas and Natura 2000 sites, is approximately 4,068,476 hectares at sea, equivalent to 11.62% of Italian territorial waters and the Ecological Protection Zone (ZPE), and about 6,532,341 hectares on land, covering 21.68% of the national territory. The extent of overlapping areas, i.e., those falling within both a protected area and a Natura 2000 site, has increased over time, reaching 862,631 hectares at sea and 2,447,046 hectares on land in 2023. The trends indicate that the percentage of protected national surface has stabilized since 2006 for marine areas and since 2011 for land areas. To meet the 30% target set by SEB 2030, an additional 18% of marine areas (approximately 6,600,000 hectares) and 8% of land areas (approximately 2,500,000 hectares) still need to be protected.

The indicator provides an estimate of the population exposed to landslide risk (personal damage risk: deaths, missing, injuries, and evacuations) on a national, regional, provincial, and municipal basis. In Italy, the population at landslide risk residing in areas with high and very high landslide hazard (P3+P4) amounts to 1,303,666 inhabitants, equal to 2.2% of the total population.

This indicator provides an overview of the population residing in flood-prone areas (population exposed to flood risk) at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels. In Italy, the population residing in areas with high hazard/probability is 4.1% of the total national population (2,431,847 people); those exposed to medium hazard/probability are 11.5% (6,818,375 people), while the population in areas with low hazard/probability is 20.6% (12,257,427 people).

The number of areas and the extent of protected marine surface have steadily increased over time. Currently, Italy has 39 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), established in 10 Italian regions; of these, 29 are Marine Protected Areas (AMPs). Sicily and Sardinia are the regions with the highest number of marine protected areas, both in terms of quantity and protected marine surface.

Between 2012 and 2019, the national surface area of MPAs increased by 1.9%, thanks to the establishment in 2018 of two Marine Protected Areas: Capo Testa - Punta Falcone in Sardinia and Capo Milazzo in Sicily.

In Italy, as of today, 843 terrestrial protected areas (including those with a marine component) have been established, covering a total protected surface of over 3 million hectares, which corresponds to approximately 10.5% of the national terrestrial area. Analyzing the historical series (1922-2019), it is possible to observe, especially from the mid-1970s onward, a positive trend in terms of both the number and surface area of terrestrial protected natural areas. However, since 2008-2009, there has been a certain stabilization in the growth trends.

This indicator provides a national overview of the conservation status of 268 breeding bird species assessed in the reporting under Article 12 of the Birds Directive 2009/147/EC. The assessment includes species of community interest listed in Annexes I and II of the Directive, as well as those that justify the designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs).

At the national level, the percentage of species with a favourable conservation status increased from 51% (reporting period 2007-2012) to 56% (reporting period 2013-2018). However, this increase was insufficient to meet the target set by the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 (76%).

The short-term population trends, which reflect processes occurring in the last decade, indicate that 46% of species are increasing or stable, while nearly 25% of species are in decline (the population trend of the other 33% remains unknown). Regarding short-term trends in distribution range, the proportion of declining species is lower, as only the most severe declines result in range contractions: 21% of species show a contraction, while the remaining 79% have stable or expanding ranges.