UN - SDG Goals

The Circular Material Use Rate (CMUR) measures  the share of material resources reused by an economy. In the period 2004-2024 the rate of circular use of Italian materials goes from 5.8% to 21.6%

The indicator quantifies the environmental impact of Italian consumption through 16 indicators based on the life cycle (LCA). In the period 2010-2024, the national consumption footprint index recorded a reduction of 8% (dropping from 100 to 92), compared to a 6% increase in the EU-27 average. However, analyzing the trend per inhabitant, Italy's single score, despite having dropped from approximately 0.98 pt to 0.91 pt, remains constantly higher than the European average (which went from 0.82 pt to 0.85 pt), highlighting an environmental pressure per capita that is still high compared to the community context. The objective is to monitor the decoupling between consumption and impacts to fall within planetary limits.

The indicator measures the pressure exerted by tourist flows on Italy’s waste management system and is used as a proxy for monitoring Goal 12 of the 2030 Agenda, specifically SDG indicator 12.b.1.

The expanded methodology provides a more comprehensive and realistic estimate of the equivalent tourist population. In addition to officially recorded nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments, it includes nights spent in free accommodation—such as second homes and the homes of relatives or friends—as well as same-day visits.

In 2024, the indicator reached 16.2 kg per equivalent inhabitant, an increase of approximately 0.5 kg compared with 2023 and more than 5 kg above the value calculated using the “conventional” equivalent population, which amounted to 10.8 kg per equivalent inhabitant.

Second homes remained the main component accounting for this difference, adding 4.3 kg, followed by same-day visits, which added 1.2 kg. The result confirms the increasing pressure of tourism on municipal cleansing and waste management services, particularly in highly seasonal destinations, and strengthens the need for waste prevention and collection policies tailored to emerging patterns of tourism use.

In 2024, national municipal waste (MW) generation stood at just over 29.9 million tonnes, increasing by 2.3%, corresponding to 664 thousand tonnes, compared with 2023.

In 2024, the preparing for re-use and recycling rate, calculated using Method 4 and excluding C&D waste from households, stood at 52.3%, thus exceeding the target set for 2020 (50%).

In 2024, the separate collection rate was 67.7% of national municipal waste generation, increasing by 1.1 percentage points compared with 2023 and remaining above the target set by legislation for 2012 (65%).
 

Tourism continues to be strategic for the Italian economy, but its attractiveness depends on a healthy environment. The indicator quantifies the air emissions generated by tourist trips made by road.

In 2024, passenger cars remained the dominant source, accounting for 95.6% of CO emissions, 97.3% of VOC emissions, 88.8% of NOx emissions, 85.4% of PM2.5 emissions and 93.4% of CO₂ emissions. Recreational vehicles—motorhomes, caravans and vans—made a particularly significant contribution to PM2.5 emissions (12.7%) and NOx emissions (9.4%).

Following the sharp decline recorded in 2023, national emissions decreased further in 2024, although at a slower rate, with reductions ranging from 3.6% to 6.7% depending on the pollutant. Emission levels therefore remained below those recorded in 2019.

In 2024, inbound tourist flows at national borders continued to grow, reaching 88.6 million foreign visitors, compared with 85.7 million in 2023, an increase of 3.4%.

Air travel overtook road transport as the main mode of entry in 2024, accounting for 50.6% of inbound flows, while the share entering through road border crossings continued to decline, falling to 45.9%. Rail and sea arrivals remained marginal, accounting for 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively.

For trips made by residents in Italy within the country—the domestic component—passenger cars remained by far the dominant mode and increased their share further. In 2024, cars accounted for 72.6% of domestic trips, compared with 69.5% in 2023, while the share of rail travel declined to 12.4%, from 13.5% in 2023.

Overall, the modal structure confirms that the shift towards lower-impact modes of transport remains limited.

The indicator analyzes the commercial flows of recyclable materials, highlighting a growth trend of 20% in cross-border movements in the period 2004–2024 (from 12.9 to 15.5 million tonnes). The increase in intra-EU imports stands out (+34.5%), essential for the metallurgical and manufacturing sectors, and the strong expansion of extra-EU exports (+83.4%). In 2024, the national system absorbed 12.7 million tonnes of imports, dominated by ferrous metals (5.9 million tonnes), while it contributed to the global supply with 2.8 million tonnes exported, of which approximately half was made up of paper and cardboard. These dynamics reflect the consolidation of Italian circular supply chains, in full coherence with the European objectives of resource efficiency and reduction of the use of virgin raw materials.

After the 2.1% drop observed in the previous two-year period 2021-2022, in 2023 the overall production of Waste from Economic Activities generated by the national production system (industrial, commercial, artisanal, services, but also of waste treatment and environmental remediation) returns to increase attesting to almost 164.5 million tons (+1.9% compared to 2022, corresponding to more than 3 million tons).

Non -hazardous waste, which represent 93.8%of the total waste produced, have an increase of 2.8 million tons (+1.9%), the dangerous ones of 193 thousand tons (+1.9%).

With regard to the construction sector, the incentives arranged by the government for the renovation of the properties aimed at the energy redevelopment of buildings have continued. These construction/renovation works together with the activities of construction sites intended for the construction of infrastructure and public works and housing and commercial construction have generated more quantities of building and demolition waste.

The indicator measures the total quantity of Waste from Economic Activities started for the recovery operations (R1-R12) referred to in Annex C of Legislative Decree 152/2006. In 2023 the quantities of recovered special waste are consistent, equal to 74.1% of the total managed (178.9 million tons) and the trend is constantly growing (+1.8% in the last three years). The total amount of special waste recovered amounts to 132.6 million tons, of which 4.1 million tons are dangerous. The region with the greater quantity of Waste from Economic Activities recovered is Lombardy (27.7%of the recovered total), followed by Veneto (10.8%) and Emilia-Romagna (8.5%).

The collected data provide an overview of the training offer on specialised environmental topics provided by the National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA), composed of the Regional and Provincial Environmental Agencies (ARPA/APPA) and ISPRA. This offer includes both training courses and work-study pathways (curricular and extra-curricular internships, and the Paths for Transversal Skills and Orientation – PCTO). In 2024, compared to the previous year, there was a significant increase in the number of environmental training courses activated within the SNPA (304). Regarding training methodologies, the trend observed in previous years towards offering residential training courses continued, likely due to the normalisation of the post-COVID-19 health situation. The internships (both curricular and extra-curricular) activated during 2024 totalled 348 (of which only 9 were extra-curricular), while the number of PCTO students reached 2,796. Compared to 2023, there was a significant increase in training delivered through internships (+22.1%) as well as through PCTO (+38.6%).

In 2024, Domestic Material Consumption in Italy stood at 486 million tonnes (-0.7% compared to 2023), while Resource Productivity grew to 3.76 euro/kg (+1.4%), confirming an improvement in the efficiency of the use of natural resources.

Italy has structurally reduced its material footprint, going from 17.9 to 10.3 tonnes per capita between 2008 and 2024, reaching values lower than the EU average. This result reflects significant progress in terms of efficiency and circularity, but it requires consolidating the decoupling between economic growth and resource consumption in order to make the competitive advantage durable.

As of 31 December 2024, the number of organisations listed in the EMAS register, net of cancellations and suspensions, totals 1,185. This figure confirms a recovery compared to 2018, showing an increase of 22.8%. The total number of new EMAS certificates issued to organisations/businesses is 2,357. The productive sectors with the highest participation are: Waste and Material Recovery, Energy, Building and Landscape Services, Specialised Construction Works, Public Administration, and Wholesale Trade. The leadership of the Central-Northern regions is reflected in regional measures supporting EMAS. The most active regions are Lombardy, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, and Lazio. Regarding EMAS registrations by organisation type, recent years show a generally stable situation with a balanced distribution among small, medium, and large enterprises.

Systemic food wastage in the Italian food system amounts to 66% of the total food energy produced. There has been a 17% increase in food wastage compared to 2015, measured in kilocalories per person per day. This situation remains far from institutional targets of halving or significantly reducing food wastage by 2030.

The indicator monitors the impact of tourism on the territory in terms of both volume (arrivals) and the burden placed on the area (overnight stays). It highlights how some regions and autonomous provinces experience high "arrivals per inhabitant" and "overnight stays per inhabitant" ratios, such as Valle d'Aosta (10.9 and 30.0) and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (15.7 and 67.2), compared to the national average of 2.3 and 7.6, respectively. In 2023, all values increased and surpassed those recorded in 2019.

The indicator aims to provide a quantitative estimate of the contribution of tourists to daily potable water consumption.

In 2022, at the national level, the recorded tourist movement consumed 4 liters of potable water per capita equivalent per day.

Between 2015 and 2018-2020, a growth in consumption was recorded, increasing from 3.7 to 4 liters per capita equivalent, followed by a sharp drop in 2020, an anomaly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted global travel.