Everything is ready for the Festival of the Green Economy. Which this year as well confirms the dual format that adds to the “tour of the factories of sustainability” (2-4 April) the four days of debates and testimonials in Parma (4-7 April). UNIC – Italian Tanneries renews its participation in Greenweek 2024. “To present the leather supply chain to those who do not know it”, explained Giacomo Zorzi, in the photo in the centre, during the press conference presenting the event on 27 March in Milan. “Every year, we record the amazement of students who visit a tannery for the first time and discover its efforts towards excellence and sustainability. Ours is a sector of which people speak little and badly, and needs to be explained”.
The Greenweek 2024 agenda
The creator of the Festival of the Green Economy is Italypost, which is organising it this year in collaboration with, among others, the Symbola Foundation and the European Parliament and Commission. “We have put together an articulated agenda including company visits, selected by a technical-scientific committee”, says Alessandra Pizzi, curator of the event, pictured right, “and debates across production sectors, from energy to food”.
“Sustainability policies all too often stop at regulations and bureaucracy, i.e. the prescriptive aspects of what must be done”, observes Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation and of the festival’s scientific committee, pictured left. “Too little time is dedicated to telling the story of what has been done in terms of green transition. It is not known, therefore, how far Italy is ahead of others, in some cases excellence, such as in circularity. Because made in Italy cannot compete on price, but wins on quality, and over the years investments in sustainability have been a driver of growth”.
The role of leather
The agenda of the event is rich, and we advise you to consult it all. Leather appears in the Sustainability Factories tour with stops at the Conceria Montebello and Medio Chiampo (manager of the integrated water service in the Veneto tanning district). And then, with the participation of Fulvia Bacchi, general director of UNIC, in the 4 April panel “Businesses at the challenge of sustainability, not only environmental”. “We are delighted to present to the public a material without which the global fashion industry would not be possible”, Zorzi concludes, “as well as the Italian districts, which are unique worldwide and in Europe. The industry has taken up the challenge of sustainability, achieving great results in fields such as water consumption and waste recovery. It has done so even at the cost of huge investments to improve performance by one percentile point. We will show that our commitment, aware of how far we still have to go, is very strong”.
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