Adnkronos Rome, May 13 (Adnkronos) – Slowing down or abandoning the European Green Deal is not an option: it would be madness, as well as industrial suicide. The urgency is not only environmental, but also economic and social: we need an effective, fair, concrete ecological transition. A transition that leaves no one behind – neither workers nor small businesses – and that transforms the environmental challenge into an opportunity for relaunching European industry.
This is the heart of the proposal of Fondazione Ecosistemi with the Buy European and Sustainable Act (Besa) that tomorrow, May 14, will kick off the Compraverde Forum: a concrete, pragmatic and data-driven initiative, which aims to transform European public spending into a driver of decarbonisation, industrial innovation and green employment.
Public procurement represents approximately 15% of European GDP. Integrating binding environmental criteria into public tenders – the so-called Green Public Procurement (GPP) – means decisively influencing market choices, orienting production towards more sustainable, local and innovative goods and services.
According to a study by a network of international organizations supported by the European Cimate Foundation, including Fondazione Ecosistemi, the large-scale adoption of Besa in Italy could: cut 2,2 million tons of CO2 every year, relocate 8 billion euros towards virtuous industrial activities, create over 31 thousand new jobs with low environmental impact.
Italy was the first country in Europe to make CAM – Minimum Environmental Criteria mandatory in public procurement (since 2016). Today, over 60% of contracting authorities apply them and knowledge of GPP is almost universal. But, as Fondazione Ecosistemi emphasizes, "we need to move from general principles to numbers: measurable emission thresholds, minimum European content in purchased goods, clear geographic and environmental criteria".
To strengthen Italy's role in Europe and build a solid evidence base, Fondazione Ecosistemi launches the Network of Public Administrations for Besa, which will have two fundamental objectives: sharing experiences and good practices between Italian and European public bodies, collecting measurable data on the impact of GPP in economic, environmental and employment terms, which are currently still collected in a fragmented and non-comparable way.
“Only if we can measure change can we defend and expand it,” emphasizes Silvano Falocco, director of Fondazione Ecosistemi. “Numbers are needed to have an impact on European negotiations and demonstrate that a fair transition is already possible. The Buy European and Sustainable Act is not a theoretical exercise. It is an operational tool, designed to address the weaknesses of the European reporting system – currently composed of over 1.100 items, often too complex for SMEs and public administrations – and to provide tangible answers to citizens, businesses and territories. Italy has already shown that it can be an advanced laboratory for transition. Now it must become a leading voice in Europe, overcoming rhetoric and offering solutions that are realistic, fair and ambitious.”