Since 2021 the Italian Sustainable Investment Forum organizes a permanent working group on engagement addressed to members. The aim of the project is twofold: on the one side, the objective is to offer members an opportunity to discuss and exchange experiences regarding dialogue with companies invested on sustainability issues. On the other side, the aim is to facilitate the launch of joint initiatives.

 

One of the main activities of 2021 was the participation in the Italian Sustainability Week organized by Borsa Italiana. The Working Group identified four priority topics of common interest, which were raised in meetings with invested companies: the alignment of emissions reduction to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) standards, the sustainable management of water resources,  just transition, the reduction of gender pay gap. Subsequently, a first collaborative engagement initiative focused on the just transition was launched.

 

In July 2022 the Italian Sustainable Investment Forum has launched an engagement initiative with its members. During the Italian Sustainability Week promoted by Borsa Italiana (Euronext Group), asset managers and asset owners member of ItaSIF met listed companies, raising 13 ESG topics of common interest. The event took place from 5 to 9 September 2022.

 

The Working Group continues its activities in 2023. Participation is reserved to ItaSIF Members (more information on membership are available here).

 

NEON (Next-Generation Integrated Energy Services for Citizen Energy Communities) is a Project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, involving 13 partners, including the Italian Sustainable Investment Forum. The project started in September 2021, it will have a duration of 30 months.

NEON aims to promote innovative integrated services for the energy communities of citizens, focusing on the energy efficiency of buildings, the production and storage of renewable energy and the flexibility of demand to increase energy savings, reduce CO2 emissions and reduce costs in different economic sectors.

NEON promotes energy efficiency services on the market, through innovative business models that incorporate an advanced measurement and performance verification methodology.

Four energy communities of citizens (Citizen Energy Community – CEC) in Italy, France and Spain have been chosen specifically as early adopters to devise and evaluate the best integrated energy services solutions and innovative business models. These pilot areas will allow a faster application of the proposed services, with the aim of representing examples of efficient energy community at European level, both residential and non-residential.

ItaSIF contribution will focus on the analysis of financial instruments  able to support integrated energy services. The project partners are 13 in all, from six countries (Cyprus, France, Italy, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland): ENGIE (coordinator), Albedo Energie, APPA renovables, AXPO, Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique, COMET, Forum for Sustainable Finance, FOSS-University of Cyprus, Grid Ability, Instituto para la Diversificacion y Ahorro de la Energia, Institut Mihajlo Pupin, R2M Solutions Spain, TRAZA Territory.

More information about the project is available on the official website.

 

ESGeneration Italy is a project promoted by teh Italian Stock Exchange (Borsa Italiana), the Italian Banking, Insurance and Finance Federation (FeBAF) and the Italian Sustainable Investment Forum. It has been launched in October 2021 during a webinar part of initiatives related to COP26.

The initiative aims to consolidate Italy’s active role in sustainable global finance, supporting the international positioning of the SRI community and contributing to the dissemination of the culture of sustainability through the sharing of analyses and best practices. ESGeneration Italy is part of the International Network of Financial Centers for Sustainability (FC4S).

For more information please visit the official website of the initiative by clicking here.

The video of the ESGeneration Italy launch event, entitled “Financing the just transition: from commitment to action”, is available here.

PadovaFIT! Expanded is a project funded under Horizon 2020, the European Commission’s framework programme to support research and innovation initiatives.

The project aims to create and manage a One-Stop-Shop (OSS) that offers advice and support to citizens to identify the most effective technological, financial and energy-related solutions for the upgrading of their buildings. After Padua, the pilot project will be adapted and replicated in the cities of Timisoara (Romania), Smoylan and Vidin (Bulgaria). The initiative stems from the collaboration of eight partners from four European countries, in order to provide concrete solutions to bridge the gap between supply and demand in terms of energy efficiency of buildings through innovative solutions.

 

The Italian Sustainable Investment Forum contributes with its transversal skills and knowledge to provide technical support. In particular, ItaSIF contributes to the development of a market analysis of the investment sector and the study of dedicated sustainable financial tools in support of energy efficiency.

 

Project partners: Municipality of Padova (Lead Partner), Climate Alliance, Energy Agency of Plovdiv, ItaSIF, Luigi Bocconi University, Municipality of Timisoara, Sinloc – Sistema Iniziative Locali SpA, SOGESCA s.r.l..

 

For more information please visit the official website of the initiative by clicking here.

The SRI Webinars focus on the central role of sustainable finance in the current national and international socio-economic scenario. The events are opportunities of discussion on financial tools and strategies to support new, greener and more inclusive growth models, and to manage environmental and social risks linked to present and future crises.

 

The Italian Sustainable Investment Forum collaborates with universities and training institutions through lectures and classroom speeches.

Ongoing collaborations:

ALTIS (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)
24ORE Business School
Fenice Green Energy Park
Bologna Business School
H-Farm College
Scuola di Alta Formazione per la Transizione Ecologica
MIP Politecnico di Milano

The website Investi Responsabilmente was launched by the Italian Sustainable Investment Forum in 2013, with the aim of becoming a point of reference for retail investors and financial advisors who want to deepen their knowledge of sustainable and responsible investment.

The website, in Italian, collects information and education contents, including a Glossary with the keywords of sustainable finance, and a Blog that explains the latest news and developments on finance and social responsibility.

Sustainable and Responsible Investment Week (SRI Week) is an initiative launched by the Forum for Sustainable Finance in 2012, based on a format already consolidated in other European countries such as France and England. The initiative in a few years has become the most important event in Italy on sustainable finance. It is organized and coordinated by ItaSIF in collaboration with members and other subjects who share the mission of the Association.

SRI Week consists of a series of events and conferences, aimed at promoting and spreading the practice of SRI (Sustainable and Responsible Investment). The initiative is sponsored by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development. In 2022, the event has become plural, with the name of SRI Weeks.

For more information, please visit the area dedicated to the initiative on the website.

 

Since 2015, Italian Sustainable Investment Forum has coordinated the Italian Academy for Sustainable Finance, a network of professors and scholars working on sustainable investment and corporate social responsibility.

ItaSIF facilitates the exchange of information and the sharing of research results. Every year the Association promotes an event dedicated to the university sector within the SRI Weeks.

The network is open to new members, please contact ItaSIF secretariat for more information: info@finanzasostenibile.it

Universities, institutes and research centres part of the network:

·         ALTIS – Alta Scuola Impresa e Società (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

·         Bologna Business School (Alma Mater Studiorum University di Bologna)

·         European Institute on Economics and the Environment

·         Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei

·         LUISS Guido Carli

·         Politecnico di Milano

·         Università Bocconi

·         Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia

·         Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

·         Università degli Studi “G.d’Annunzio” Chieti – Pescara

·         Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro

·         Università degli Studi di Bergamo

·         Università degli Studi di Bergamo

·         Università degli Studi di Brescia

·         Università degli Studi di Genova

·         Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca

·         Università degli Studi di Milano Statale

·         Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

·         Università degli Studi di Padova

·         Università degli Studi di Parma

·         Università degli Studi di Pavia

·         Università degli Studi di Perugia

·         Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”

·         Università degli Studi di Torino

·         Università di Pisa

·         Università di Trento

·         Università LUM Jean Monnet

 

Cantieri ViceVersa is promoted by the National Forum of the Third Sector in collaboration with Italian Sustainable Investment Forum.

The project was born in 2019 with the aim of facilitating dialogue, comparison and mutual knowledge between Third Sector Entities (ETS) and financial operators and of analyzing the tools of sustainable finance, in order to respond to the Italian Third Sector needs.

After the first two editions divided into a series of meetings between the world of finance and the one of associations, voluntary organizations, social enterprises and social cooperatives and viceversa, the project has evolved and enriched.

In 2021, the “Cantieri ViceVersa Summer School” was launched: a three-days event with debates, interviews and workshops accompanied by the analysis of products and financial instruments for the Third Sector.

The fourth edition of the project continued in 2022 with a series of meetings involving financial operators and ETS. The Summer School took place from 6 to 8 July 2022, in the city of Parma. The program included four sessions, dedicated to four themes: credit, gift, insurance, equity. The proposals and results of the initiative were collected in a shared document. The report was presented at the project closing event on 21 November 2022, as part of the Sustainable and Responsible Investment Weeks (SRI weeks).

For more information about the project, please write to info@cantieriviceversa.org.