Today there is a perception that investing in sustainability creates benefits, but we still need to goa step further, to turn perception into awareness and to put a concrete and tangible value on why sustainability creates benefits.

So let us start by saying that sustainability is not just about protecting the environment and adopting responsible behaviors that improve the future of the planet and the community.

Sustainability is also synonymous with strategiceconomic opportunities, and corporate governance models are increasingly geared toward investing in this approach, which is now at the center of political, economic and social debate.

THERE IS A NEW WAY FORWARD IN THE MARKETS OF THE WORLD ECONOMY
AND BRINGS WITH IT ALL THE POTENTIAL THAT THE GREEN ECONOMY OFFERS IN TERMS OF OPPORTUNITY.

But what are the benefits of sustainability for a company?

Being able to ensure, through models and practices of management behavior, the achievement of superior levels ofcollective and environmentalwell-being , is not always enough to make a company adopt a sustainable business model. The perception of what the real benefits of sustainability can be on their bottom line is certainly an important motivational lever that leads to the inclusion of new items within the company’s economic balance sheet.

SOCIAL IMPACT BENEFITS

• BRAND REPUTATION The sustainable company without a shadow of a doubt strengthens its image. By focusing on values that are not exclusively economic but “social”, “environmental” and innovative from the “technological” point of view, it creates a new kind of bond and dynamics with its customers. In this way, these take on an attitude of trust and perceive greater reliability and transparency.

ECONOMIC IMPACT BENEFITS

• OPENING UP TO NEWOPPORTUNITIES A company that is sustainable or at least committed to applying and developing new sustainable models of governance, which introduce technological innovation but reduce environmental impact, is sure to be more appealing to financial analysts in the new green economy. Moreover, in an administrative policy that is increasingly focused on encouraging sustainable practices, a company will more easily find economic and tax breaks and benefits provided precisely by the governments’ legislative framework.

AWARENESS THAT THE GROWTH OF AN ECONOMIC SECTOR LINKED TO SUSTAINABILITY REPRESENTS BOTH AN ECONOMIC AS WELL AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL DRIVER, HAS LED THE GOVERNMENT TO OFFER RELEVANT OPPORTUNITIES AT THE LEVEL OF TAX BREAKS AND INCENTIVES, WHICH CAN RAPPRESENT SUBSTANTIAL COST SAVINGS FOR THE BUSINESS

What does the legislation Italian – The benefits for companies:

• Asbestos Bonus – relief for asbestos disposal The asbestos bonus, allows business income holders, to access a 50 percent tax credit for the disposal of asbestos and is provided by the decree of the “Ministry of the Environment,” published on Oct. 17/2016 in the Official Gazette.
• RES Decree 1 (Renewable Energy Sources) effective August 10, 2019, provides ‘incentives to support the production of energy from renewable sources such as photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric and sewage gas plants.
• National Energy Efficiency Fund regulated by the Interministerial Decree of December 22, 2017 economically supports energy efficiency interventions completed by companies – including Energy Service Companies – and Public Administration, on buildings, plants and production processes
• “ANTIWASTE” NORMATIVE GADDA LA W – 166/2016
  The purpose of Law 166/2016 is to reduce waste along the entire agribusiness supply chain by encouraging the recovery and donation of surplus products. As of 2018, in addition to food and medicines, it will also be possible to donate hygiene and personal and household care products, food supplements, biocides, medical surgical aids, stationery and stationery products.

Among the most important points of the Gadda law are:

• Simplification of procedures for the recovery and donation of surplus food;
• Waste tax reduction for food donors;
• Innovative projects related to the development and implementation of new anti-waste methods with social purposes will be supported and funded.
• Incentives are arranged for restaurants that make use of doggy bags, which are containers available for customers to take home leftover meals.
• Those who donate surplus products will be able to count on waste tax relief.

THE TAX AMOUNTS OF THE GADDA LAW
a) FOR VAT PUR POSES Goods given free of charge to public bodies and Third Sector associations having exclusively the purpose of assistance, charity, education, study or scientific research, in the form of food products, are considered destroyed for VAT purposes. ex art. 6 paragraph 15 L. 133/1999. It is therefore a ‘transaction outside the scope of VAT. The supplying company can deduct the VAT paid on purchases.

(b) FOR INCOME TAX PURPOSES On goods given away free of charge (goods to the production or exchange of which the activity of the enterprise is directed), the provision of the Tuir, according to which the normal value of goods intended for purposes unrelated to the exercise of the enterprise is included among revenues, does not operate. (e.g., gifts, self-consumption.) In this way, the legislature has established that solidarity transfers for the purpose of calculating business income are not considered revenue, so they are not subject to IRES or IRPEF taxation.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), is increasingly seen as a genuine corporate policy that manages to combine profit with environmental and social concerns, with a view to future sustainability.

The growing interest in sustainable behavior, it is now established that it brings benefits to the companies involved on various levels, in economic as well as image terms.
It therefore becomes essential for the company that wants to become “sustainable” to go beyond a simple pact of trust with the consumer or stakeholder.

Companies will have to assure their customers that what they offer-a product or service-is truly sustainable, meaning that it meets a certain number of measurable and certified criteria. And to do so, it must rely on third-party entities that will attest to its commitment and actual success.

Sustainability thus becomes now more than ever a recognized, valid and objective element, a tool that companies can also use in the perspective of their marketing and communication strategies.