In 2022, gross fixed investments by industrial enterprises aimed at environmental protection suffered a dramatic collapse: the total value dropped from €1,454.3 million to €508.7 million, marking a contraction of approximately 65% compared to the peak reached just a year earlier. The downturn affected both “end-of-pipe” technologies (−71.5%) and integrated technologies (−47.6%) in a similar manner, so the share of integrated solutions in total investment remained essentially unchanged at just over 40%.
At the sectoral level, manufacturing remained the top investor with almost €300 million, although it reduced its outflows by more than half; electricity and gas lost most of the commitments made in 2021 (−87%), while water management settled at €125 million (−62%). Among CEPA categories, despite steep declines, “Wastewater Management” (€171.7 million) and “Air and Climate Protection” (€126.4 million) remained the most significant.

The indicator measures the number of industrial enterprises in the strict sense, their local operational units, and the employed workforce, providing a snapshot of the national production structure and its evolution.
In 2022, the number of active enterprises in the industrial sector (in the strict sense) amounted to 390,580, a figure that remained essentially stable compared to 2021 (+0.02%). The territorial distribution remains polarized, with over half of the enterprises concentrated in the northern part of the country. In terms of employment, the number of workers totaled 4,137,637, marking a 1.5% increase compared to the previous year. Overall, the manufacturing sector remains the dominant component, accounting for over 90% of industrial employment.

The 2022 update highlights the continued recovery of intramural Research and Development (R&D) expenditure by industrial enterprises, reaching €11.39 billion (+3.1% compared to 2021), surpassing for the first time the pre-pandemic peak of 2019. Almost all of this expenditure (98.9%) continues to be borne by the manufacturing sector, while the contribution of extractive activities, energy supply, and waste management services accounts for just 1.1%. Over the decade 2012–2022, total investment grew by more than a third (+36.6%), as shown in Table 1. When related to GDP, the share stood at approximately 1.31% in 2023 (1.37% in 2022), a level that keeps Italy below the euro area average and behind its main European industrial partners.