Environment at a Glance Indicators

Italy

This country profile features selected environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. The indicators reflect major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, and biodiversity. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. The OECD is working with countries and other international organisations to further improve the indicators and the underlying data.

Context

Italy’s economy, among the largest in the OECD, is highly dependent on imports of energy and raw materials. The North region is richer and more economically advanced than the South. A large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, clustered in several industrial districts, mostly in the North, are the backbone of Italian industry. Tourism is one of the fastest growing and most profitable sectors of the national economy.

Regional disparities in income, infrastructure and access to services, including environmental services, are high. Population is ageing and density is high although unevenly distributed. Over 30% of the population lives in coastal areas. Urban sprawl around cities has increased car dependency and traffic congestion, also affecting air quality.

Italy has shores along the Mediterranean sea and includes the large islands of Sicily and Sardinia as well as about 70 minor islands. Extending for about 1 300 km from north to south, Italy has an exceptionally long coastline (almost 8 300 km). Most of the country is mountainous and prone to earthquake. The country has a wide variety of ecosystems and landscapes, reflecting variations in climate (from Mediterranean to Alpine and continental) as well as its very rich cultural heritage. Average rainfall is not evenly distributed over seasons and regions, the South and the islands are more arid. There are few mineral resources. Some oil, gas and coal are exploited, but represent a very small part of national consumption.

Climate change

Like any other country, Italy needs to take decisive and urgent action on climate change due to more frequent and intense extreme events. While efforts to reduce emissions are proving effective, the impacts of climate change will still be unavoidable. Complementary actions are therefore needed.

In Italy, greenhouse gas emissions have been decreasing by about 20% in the last 30 years. This is mainly due to the combustion of energy, and therefore CO₂ emissions, which account for more than 80% of total emissions. In addition, according to the current policy scenario, "Effort sharing" (EU) 2018/842 emissions will reduce by 28.5% in 2030, compared to 2005 levels, (target - 43.7%).

Energy mix

Emissions reductions, especially since 2008, are a consequence of both the reduction in energy consumption and in industrial production, following the economic crisis and the relocation of some industries, but also of the growth in the production of renewable energy and the increase in energy efficiency.

The gross domestic energy consumption mix in 2022 saw the share of oil decreasing, while the share of natural gas (40.5%) and renewable sources (18%) increased. The greater diversification and the increase in the role of renewable sources have positive effects on Italy's level of energy self-sufficiency, which is one of the lowest among industrialised countries.

Air quality

Air emissions

Small particulates (PM_2.5) emissions amounted to 147 kt in 2021, below the target set for 2020 (162 kt, a 10% reduction compared to 2005 values), and a decreased of 26.8% compared to 2000. Emissions from non-industrial combustion increased (+42.4%), due to the increase in the combustion of wood in residential heating, which has the largest share of total emissions in 2021 (66%).

Sulphur oxide (SO_X) emissions are among the main cause of acidification of the atmosphere, with negative effects on ecosystems and materials. In 2021, SO_x emissions were reduced by about 90% compared to 2000, mainly due to the new limits on the sulphur content in fuels.

Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), with a decrease in 2021 compared to 2005 of about 35%, attained the percentage reduction imposed by the legislation for 2020 (-35%). NMVOC emissions come mainly from the use of solvents (36.8% of total emissions in 2021), which decreased by more than 34% compared to 2000.

Nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions fell and reached the percentage reduction imposed by the legislation for 2020 (-40.6%) already in 2014. The contribution of road transport remains fairly stable over the years (about 40%). NOx emissions from other mobile sources, although decreasing, represent the second largest source of emissions nationally. Other combustion, on the other hand, is the only sector that increased.

In 2020, the entire Italian population was exposed to levels of particulate matter above the WHO recommended threshold value (5 μg/m³): 90% of the population (residing in 70% of municipalities) is exposed to levels above the interim target IT4 (10 μg/m³); and 46% of the population (residing in 34% of municipalities) was exposed to levels above IT3 (15 μg/m³). Annual averages vary from 8 to 20 μg/m³ across regions. The exposed population is mainly concentrated in the Po Valley (Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto). No municipality recorded levels above IT1 (35 μg/m³) in 2020. As observed in several studies, there was a moderate reduction in PM_2.5 levels during the lockdown period of 2020, though much less marked than that observed for pollutants mainly related to emissions from road traffic. However, this did not affect the average annual exposure levels in 2020, which were comparable with previous years.

Freshwater resources

In 2020, 9.19 billion m³ were abstracted for public water supply in Italy. This represents 155 m³ per year per inhabitant. 84.8% of the volume was abstracted from groundwater (48.9% from wells, 35.8% from springs), 16.1% from surface water (9.6% artificial basins, 5.0% rivers, 0.5% natural lakes) and the remaining 0.1% from marine and brackish water. Of the total abstracted, 322 water operators represented 90.3% of the total volume (about 8.3 billion m³). The other 1 297 operators (municipalities or other local authorities) represented the remaining 9.7%.

Despite a 0.4% reduction compared to 2018, Italy remained the EU country with the highest amount, in absolute value, of total fresh water abstracted for public water supply, and the third in per inhabitant terms in 2020.The largest amount of abstraction for public water supply was in the Po river district (30.5% of the national total).

Regional differences in abstractions are significant and generally depend on different water requirements, water basins, water transport infrastructures and leakages. Water transfers to deficient regions are frequent in the south and the islands.

Data on wastewater treatment levels are incomplete. The share of population connected to secondary of higher treatment is below 60% according to latest available data.

In 2020, the percentage of resident population connected to urban wastewater collecting system in Italy was 88.70%. Not all the wastewater produced was treated in urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTPs). In 2020 96.3% of Italian municipalities were connected to an UWWTP. Most are located in Northern Italy. Treatment service is completely lacking in 296 municipalities (3.7%), representing 1.3 million inhabitants. Given the complexity of urban wastewater treatment, the majority of the plants (88.0%) are managed by 227 water operators and the remaining by 1 150 municipalities or other local authorities.

UWWTPs with secondary or advanced treatment (43.7% of the plants) treated more than 94% of pollutant loads. The remaining 56.3% of plants are primary or Imhoff tanks.

Connection to independent wastewater collecting and treatment systems is frequent in sparsely populated areas and far from urban centres.

Waste, materials and circular economy

Municipal waste

The new Circular Economy Action Plan adopted in March 2020 is one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal. The action plan posits initiatives along the entire life cycle of products, with the aim of reducing the consumption footprint, doubling the rate of use of materials by 2030, promoting circular economy processes, encouraging sustainable consumption and preventing waste generation.

The generation of municipal waste stood at 28.9 million tonnes in 2020, a decrease of 3.6% compared to 2019. The per person generation of municipal waste has remained stable since 2012, at around 500 kilogrammes (kg) per year, with the exception of 2018 and 2019. This represents a decrease with respect to the 550 kg generated in 2010.

The share of landfilling decreased from 77% in 2000 to 22% in 2020, in favour of recycling, which increased from 10% to 30% over the same period.

Material consumption

In contrast to the decrease in material consumption (-30.2%), GDP increased between 2000 and 2021 (1.1%), resulting in improved resource productivity. The main component of Ital’s domestic material consumption (DMC) is non-metallic minerals (e.g. construction materials), making up half of the total on average, despite it has halved since the 2008 economic crisis. Biomass and fossil energy materials each make up approximately a quarter of DMC. Metal ores constitute the smallest of the four main material categories

Biodiversity

Forests cover about a third of land and agricultural land about 32% of Italy’s territory.

Italy has a great wealth of animal species, with a high number of endemic species: Italian fauna is estimated at over 58 000 species, of which about 55 000 invertebrates and 1 812 protozoa, which together represent about 98% of the total species richness, as well as 1 258 species of vertebrates, which represent 2%. The IUCN assessments and the demographic trends of populations highlight rather worrying threat levels for the Italian fauna, even if the risk of extinction is quite variable among the different taxonomic groups. Of the 672 species of vertebrates (576 terrestrial and 96 marine), 6 are extinct and 161 are threatened with extinction (equal to 28% of the species assessed).

Protected areas

Italy ratified several international conventions and agreements and is committed to the implementation of the EU directives on the protection of biodiversity, such as the Habitats and Birds Directives and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, as well as monitoring the achievement of the objectives of the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030 (SEB 2030). Protected areas cover 11.2% of Italian territorial waters and Ecological Protection Areas, and 21.7% of the Italian territory. This is below the 30% target set by the SEB 2030. Italy has achieved the Aichi target of protecting at least 17% of the terrestrial protected area, while the target for marine areas has not been achieved.

References and further reading

https://indicatoriambientali.isprambiente.it/