Over the last hundred years, global chemical production has grown exponentially, from 1 million tonnes in 1930 to several hundred million tonnes today. The European Union (EU) is the second largest producer in the world after China, and it is estimated that over 100,000 chemical substances are present on the European market. Italy, with a production value exceeding 66 billion euros, is the third largest producer in Europe after Germany and France, and the twelfth globally. Around 2,800 chemical companies operate in Italy, employing more than 112,000 people, although chemical products are used in all production sectors.

The European regulation on chemical substances is likely the most ambitious in the world, aiming to ensure a high level of protection for human health and the environment. The main reference regulations are REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging). Responsibility for the safe management of chemicals lies primarily with the companies that manufacture, import, or use them. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the competent authorities of EU Member States monitor company compliance and can intervene with specific measures if risks to human health or the environment are not properly controlled. Through regulatory process monitoring, the indicator provides elements to assess progress in achieving safety objectives set by the legislation.

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.

Descriptor 8 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC (MSFD), in order to achieve good environmental status of marine waters through the gradual elimination of pollution, specifically requires the assessment of the presence of chemical contaminants and their effects in environmental matrices. During the 2021–2023 period, ISPRA conducted monitoring of the Adriatic Sea Subregion (MAD), Ionian Sea and Central Mediterranean Subregion (MIC), and Western Mediterranean Subregion (MWE). The data were processed and integrated with those provided by regional agencies and experimental zooprophylactic institutes.

This monitoring revealed that, although the data coverage for the study of contaminant concentrations varied across matrices and subregions, there was an overall improvement. This allowed for the assessment of GES (Good Environmental Status) for the sediment matrix in two MRUs and for the biota matrix in the Adriatic MRU.

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.

The European Farm to Fork strategy sets two targets to be achieved by 2030: a 50% reduction in the use and risk of chemical pesticides and a 50% reduction in the use of the most hazardous pesticides. To measure progress towards these targets, two indicators have been defined based on the sales of active substances contained in plant protection products and the hazardous properties of these substances. The indicators described represent the European and national trends in progress towards the pesticide reduction goals of the Farm to Fork strategy. In 2022, the use and risk of chemical pesticides showed a 36% decrease at the European level compared to the 2015-2017 baseline period. For Italy, the reduction exceeds the European target, reaching 53%, with a 10 percentage point decrease in the last year. Regarding the use of the most hazardous pesticides, the national decrease in 2022 was faster than the European one, amounting to a 34% reduction compared to the European 25% (relative to the 2015-2017 period).

The indicator represents the trend of national persistent organic pollutant emissions by sector, from 1990 to 2022. The target set as a lower emission value than in 1990 was achieved for both PAHs (-30%) and dioxins and furans (-43%), with different trends.

The indicator allows for the assessment of surface and groundwater contamination by pesticide residues released into the environment. Monitoring pesticide presence in water is complex due to the number of substances involved and their diffuse use. Measured levels are compared with the concentration limits established by current regulations. The presented indicators provide an analysis of the evolution of contamination over the 2012–2021 decade, in terms of the frequency of pesticide detection in water, as well as the environmental risks arising from their use. Data from 2021 confirm a state of contamination already reported in previous years, with exceedances of legal limits particularly in surface waters (28.3% of monitoring points); in groundwater, 6.8% of points exceed regulatory limits.

Chemical monitoring of groundwater bodies during the period 2018–2020 revealed that the most critical anthropogenic substances on a national scale for chemical status are nitrates and trichloromethane. Among the various substances of potential natural origin present in groundwater bodies, electrical conductivity—related to the presence of chlorides—stands out as an excellent indicator of groundwater salinization. This salinization can stem from marine origins in coastal aquifers or from deep fossil waters.

Between 2014 and 2020, nitrate concentrations remained stable in 78.8% of the monitoring stations, decreased in 11.8%, and increased in the remaining 9.4%. The regions of Abruzzo and Emilia-Romagna reported the highest percentages of stations with decreasing trends (22.8%), while Lazio recorded the highest percentage of stations with increasing trends (20.6%).

Trichloromethane concentrations were stationary in 72.6% of the stations, showed a decreasing trend in 24.9%, and an increasing trend in only 2.5%. High percentages of stations with decreasing trends were observed in Marche (81.4%) and Piedmont (70.7%).

Electrical conductivity trends were stationary in 78.6% of the stations, decreasing in 4.6%, and increasing in the remaining 16.8%. Emilia-Romagna recorded the highest value for decreasing trends (14.5%), while Lazio had the highest percentage of increasing trends (25%).

In 2017, chemical monitoring of watercourses was conducted by ARPA/APPA at a total of 1,867 monitoring stations across 15 regions and 2 autonomous provinces.

The indicator's representation considered both the Environmental Quality Standards - Annual Average (EQS-AA) and Environmental Quality Standards - Maximum Allowable Concentration (EQS-MAC) for surface waters, as defined in Legislative Decree 172/2015.

At the national level, 87.1% of stations showed no exceedances of EQS-AA, and 98.6% of stations showed no exceedances of EQS-MAC.

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.