It is quite likely that this growing awareness has been influenced by the dramatic extreme events that have struck our country over the past twelve months, from the storms in the Marche to the tragic melting of the ice on the Marmolada, and the disastrous landslide on Ischia. The idea is gaining ground among the Italian public that the particularly fragile territory of the Peninsula means we can no longer sweep the issue of environmental sustainability and the fight against climate warming under the carpet, since, if left unaddressed, they will have particularly serious consequences for our economic and social fabric.
Italians and the green economy: growing trust
Italians’ attitude towards green investments has long been dominated by the fear that the energy transition would bring higher costs, lower consumption and greater social inequality.
Rising energy costs and extreme weather events have clearly helped to change minds. 71% of Italians believe that by 2050 sustainable energy, products and services will be available at affordable prices for everyone: a significantly higher figure than the average for European citizens who share this belief (48%).
For 68% of Italians, moreover, policies to tackle climate change can create more jobs. Even more (71%) believe that the right policies will create better jobs in terms of wages, safety and quality of the working environment.
The Censis-Assogestioni Report speaks of ‘an important socio-cultural evolution’, especially considering that, in previous years, surveys had shown a state of substantial confusion among Italian savers about green issues.
It was the abundance of definitions and their still overly technical nature (for example on ESG, environment, social, governance) that generated incomprehension, mistrust and a lack of confidence, and therefore held people back from planning investments in the sector.
Today, however, 57.4% of savers are in favour of investing in sustainable financial products and companies. Those more inclined to do so are young people (59.6%), residents of the North West (61.7%), graduates (67.9%) and high earners (76.6%).
The demand for intermediaries
However, not everything is yet clear and fully reassuring for Italians. A halo of ambiguity persists, together with an absence of common, recognisable and comprehensible taxonomies and metrics, despite the regulatory efforts of the European Union (efforts which, we would add, are perhaps still not sufficiently well known to savers).
Potential investors therefore need impartial intermediaries: guarantors, in short, who ensure that the sectors, projects and companies chosen for investment genuinely respect environmental sustainability. Italians, in other words, fear greenwashing.
For 89.8% of Italians, the involvement of third-party institutions or certifying bodies to ensure that green investments truly act according to the announced criteria is an essential condition.
For this reason, the Report concludes, the priority for the coming years will be ‘the ability to reassure, support and guide savers, helping them to overcome the mistrust born of persistent confusion that currently affects them when faced with a green investment proposal’.
In short, at the centre of everything there is still the good old financial adviser. For Italians, the relationship of trust with this figure remains decisive in decisions on how to invest their money. In other words, the near future of financial management will belong to green private bankers…
