Eco

Four Regions in the South (Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily) and one in the North (Lombardy) in 2021 climbed the ranking of environmental crimes with the eco-mafia in full swing. Despite awareness-raising initiatives and complaints, the environment in Italy maintains leadership for the largest number of offenses. The Ecomafia report Of Legambientecreated together with the Bioeconomy Society Novamontprovides a cross-section of a country that wants to walk on the ecological transition, but still has to deal with one widespread crime and focused on profitable business. The turnover last year was close to 9 billion euros and it looks more and more like a circular economy system, but outlawed: from cement, to waste, to land, to corruption, to woods, to works of art.

Eco-mafias: business concentrated above all on cement and waste

Compared to 2020 there have been no setbacks as the 30,590 ascertained offenses tell us. 292 assets were seized for a total value of over 227 million euros. The most contested crime of all was that of environmental pollution, with a frightening average: 84 felonies per day: 10 violations of the law every hour. Checks by the police have increased, but attention remains high on local authorities. In one year, 14 Municipalities were dissolved due to mafia infiltration and conditioning of various kinds. Legambiente focused in particular on waste trafficking, monitoring 38 judicial inquiries. “The picture that emerges from reading our Ecomafia 2022 Report continues to be worrying – he says Stephen Ciafani, President of Legambiente – It is essential not to let your guard down against eco-criminals, now more than ever given that the first funding from the PNRR tenders has been awarded. Many more will be awarded in the near future and the many construction sites for the coveted ecological transition will soon open”. The real economy suffers and often does not find adequate regulatory supports to react and report in the international business legality. The occasion of the Recovery and Resilience Plan will cause other socio-economic anguish due to the presence of criminal organizations. For neutralize the chain of malfeasance evidently, the government is also called upon to set certain limits on contracts and companies.

The business remains billionaire, while the environment has entered the Constitution

Yet in the 2022 environmental protection is ticket in the Italian Constitution. The initiatives of industrial and commercial organizations to counter illegality need real political support in order not to lose jobs, stimulate growth and succumb to the underground economy. Gloi must be acknowledged that they have claimed them on several occasions. Therefore the Legambiente Report should be read with the lens of economic opportunities and not only as a repression of crimes, not superfluous at all. The data of the is significant Lombardy, the first industrial region of Italy, with 6% of crimes ascertained out of the national total. From North to South, 2 tons of illegal waste have been seized, while many others have escaped checks and complaints. Based on the data collected Legambiente presented a package of 10 proposals for improvements to the current legislation. Among these stands out the constitution in this legislature of the Parliamentary commission of inquiry on illegal waste activities and on related facts, the so-called Ecomafie Commission. Europe is also updating the legislation. But in Italy, having a streamlined Commission present in the most exposed territories would be a good signal from the new Parliament and a new majority. To the detriment of bosses and accomplices who continue to put heavy and lucrative spokes in the works of the ecological transition and economic recovery. The country system needs it.