The projects and communication activities in the local areas have as their objective the improvement of local communities, through direct and indirect investments on sustainability issues: in this way Iren is committed to making the society in which we live grow in a sustainable way.
In 2021, Iren realised and contributed to the realisation of important social, cultural and environmental projects to raise awareness in the communities on the correct way to manage waste or on the sustainable use of natural resources, and on the importance of these practices for the well-being of citizens and for the territory. Some of these projects had a significant impact on the local areas in which they were carried out.
| Cultural projects | |
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Iren mecenate (Iren for culture) |
Iren shares the deep values of culture and their importance in the development of local areas. For this reason, for many years, it has been founder of the main theatres in northern Italy: Teatro Regio Foundation in Turin, I Teatri di Reggio Emilia Foundation, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and Teatri di Piacenza Foundation. Iren has also always supported the Teatro Regio in Parma and for several years now the Teatro Nazionale in Genoa. |
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Permanent didactic and cultural routes in the Parma area |
At the end of the recovery works of the underground spaces of the Ancient Farnese Aqueduct in Parma, the “Galleria delle Fontane” route was inaugurated in October. The restoration and redevelopment of the underground areas of Piazza Garibaldi are part of the project “Parma Territorio d’Acque, Percorsi permanenti didattico culturali sul territorio parmense” (Parma Territory of Water, Permanent didactic and cultural routes in the Parma area), which involves Iren Group, under the coordination of the City of Parma, and is part of the projects of Parma Italian Capital of Culture 2020 + 2021. |
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Ocean Race |
During the Ocean Race Europe event, held in June 2021 in Genoa, awareness activities were carried out for children on the protection of the sea and oceans, with particular reference to plastic pollution, through the creation of the musical “Un mare senza plastica” (A sea without plastic), performed under the big top of Porto Antico, and the distribution of the brochure “Le fabbriche dell’acqua pulita” (The factories of clean water). |
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Science Festival |
During the 2021 Science Festival in Genoa, Iren created an installation aimed at school students regarding the problem of plastic in the oceans. |
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National Innovation Award |
Iren strongly believes in the strategic role of innovation and research in the Italian industrial panorama. This is why it supported the National Innovation Award in 2021, believing that the development and growth of its business can only benefit from the comparison and collaboration with innovative, ambitious start-ups, supported by solid business projects. Still in the field of innovation, Iren also supported the regional Start Cup held in Emilia-Romagna. |
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Food Journalism Festival |
As part of the Food Journalism Festival, held in Turin in February 2021, Amiat participated in one of the sessions, illustrating the company’s initiatives in favour of sorted waste collection and the good practice of the RePoPP Project for the recovery of unsold organic waste. |
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Iren History at “Archivissima” |
“Iren History: know your origins to design tomorrow” is the title of the event promoted by Iren as part of Archivissima 2021, held in Turin, which recounts the Group’s cultural and historical heritage, thanks to the testimony of numerous archival documents, graphic, photographic and video sources, and was created as an open participatory tool, a living container, progressively implementable with new elements. |
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90 years of the Ceresole Reale dam |
The event organised to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Ceresole Reale dam, in the Orco Valley, located at an altitude of 1,570 meters, featured acrobatic performances organised by the Cirko Vertigo Foundation. For the occasion, the photographic exhibition “History of a dam (and of a valley)” was inaugurated. It presents historical images related to the realisation of the reservoir and of the other dams of Orco Valley. The exhibition, open for the entire month of August with a significant participation of the public, was set up inside one of the buildings built during the construction of the dam and now totally renovated and converted into a site for events, exhibitions, classroom. |
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Green Week in Parma |
On the occasion of Green Week, an initiative within the Festival of the Green Economy held in Parma, Iren opened its doors to the visitors of the PAI of Parma and of the Pad of Mancasale (creating new ad hoc informative brochures) and brought its own experience on the integration of sustainability in business and on circular economy within the conferences in program. |
| Social projects | |
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“RePoPP” Project |
A project against food waste, it concerns the recovery of unsold organic waste at five markets in Turin, with the aim of collecting and redistributing fruit and vegetable products that can still be used through awareness-raising and education activities on the sorted collection of organic waste. The project has been extended to two other markets in the Mirafiori area. The activities focused mainly on the aspects of food recovery and redistribution due to an acclaimed food emergency, a consequence of the Covid-19 emergency, which affected the weakest strata of the urban social fabric. |
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Helicopter rescue |
With a first experimental flight, the helipad for night helicopter rescue landing was inaugurated in the Municipality of Ceresole Reale, near the Serrù dam of Iren Group. The area has been equipped with ground signs and a lighting system to allow helicopter rescue workers to have an additional base high up in the mountains, in case of emergencies in the area, both for the Iren personne working on the plants and for the institutional purposes of the health rescue organisations. |
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SPoTT at Ecomondo |
On 10 June 2021, in the framework of the Digital Green Weeks organised by Ecomondo, a webinar was held dedicated to TRM and, in particular, to the monitoring system SPoTT (Surveillance on the health of the population near the Turin waste-to-energy plant), organised in agreement with the Metropolitan City of Turin, the Local Health Authority and Arpa, titled “The relationship between a waste-to-energy plant and the territory. The Turin experience: between dialogue and environmental monitoring”. |
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Iren for sports |
Believing strongly in the values of fair play and the importance of teamwork, in 2021 Iren supported many sports projects in the territories of reference. Despite the health emergency, championships in water polo, basketball, American football, field hockey and rhythmic gymnastics were still held. In 2021, we point out the European Baseball Championships, held in September in the metropolitan city of Turin, in which Iren was Golden Sponsor. |
| Environmental projects | |
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Energy efficiency, artistic and public street lighting |
In 2021, Iren Group realised and supported the initiatives of artistic lighting and territorial animation related to the end-of-year festivities, guaranteeing its know-how and its services in favour of the Public Administrations of the territories in which it operates. At the end of the year, the multi-year plan to commission over 700,000 new 2G smart meters in the cities of Turin and Parma that facilitate the management of electricity consumption got underway. The start of the replacement activity was preceded by a specific communication campaign to inform households and businesses about the reasons and benefits of the replacement, the new meter functions and the methods of the intervention. In November, the Chiomonte and Susa power plants were inaugurated. They underwent technical and functional upgrading that effectively combined industrial redevelopment, sustainable use of water, a primary renewable source, and territorial development. |
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Water |
2 new Acquapubblica distributors have been inaugurated in the province of Piacenza and Reggio Emilia with an awareness activity on the environmental benefits of using tap water, on the quality and on the controls of the water from the aqueducts managed by Iren Group. At the end of 2021, in the Emilia-Romagna territory 79 Acquapubblica distributors are active. Inauguration of the Gazzano wastewater treatment plant (Villa Minozzo, Reggio Emilia): the area was equipped with this important infrastructure that allows the water, collected through a system of sewers networks, to be purified and returned intact to the natural environment. In the municipality of La Spezia, an ongoing communication campaign has been carried out to promote connection to the public sewerage system for users who have not yet been connected. |
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Air quality |
The TRM website has been enriched to increase the usability in the visualisation of daily emission data with the addition of a guide to the reading of the more technical aspects: type of parameters analysed, emission limits and regulatory references. In addition, in order to facilitate the search for information on emission data and integrate the current publication system, in agreement and coordination with the Local Control Committee, banners have been created that each municipality adjacent to the plant has published on its website, thus multiplying the channels available to stakeholders.
On the occasion of World Bee Day 2021, Iren has positioned 2 hives of environmental sentinel bees in the Torino Nord cogeneration plant in order to carry out, through the presence of these insects, the bio-monitoring of the environmental matrices of the area. Approximately 120,000 bees have been placed in the hives and are able to pollinate about 60 million flowers in the surrounding area every day. The project involved monitoring air quality and various environmental matrices through constant observation of bee behaviour, health, and honey production capacity. |
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Virtual tour of TRM |
Since July 2021, on the TRM website it is possible to have a real video experience of the Turin waste-to-energy plant: an immersive virtual visit, during which the viewer can see the surrounding environment at 360° with a guide voice that describes the waste-to-energy process and thus promotes the understanding of what is displayed with a high degree of involvement, absolutely comparable to a visit in presence. |
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Sustainable use of resources |
From the collaboration with the Municipality of La Spezia was the creation of the days “La Spezia Green”, aimed at citizens and schools, dedicated to the issues of waste and those of the integrated water cycle, with the presentation of reports and projects to raise awareness of the population on the proper use of resources.
In September 2021, the site was started for the realisation of a plant for the transformation of wood that was recovered into new products such as pallets and blocks. The plant, equipped with latest generation technologies that will ensure product quality, safety and environmental protection, will recover wood materials that will find new life in finished and semi-finished products normally made with virgin wood, avoiding the felling of about 115,000 trees per year. |
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Sorted waste collection |
Using various communication tools, the Group has devised and publicised campaigns to raise public awareness of the proper sorted waste collection and the fight against waste dumping. The campaign “Sarebbe un mondo da favola se...” (It would be a fairy-tale world if...) was carried out in all local areas with the aim of fighting the phenomenon of waste abandonment and raising awareness of the population to the correct sorted waste collection. On the occasion of the European Week for Waste Reduction, 3 videos inspired by the traditional fairy tales of Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin (which can be viewed online on Iren’s YouTube channel) were released through various channels. Each scene has a different epilogue than expected, precisely because of the abandoned waste, to emphasise the message: if everyone behaved responsibly, we could live in a fairytale world. The campaign was presented in the territories, in collaboration with Public Administrations including through a series of theatrical performances in the squares and streets of the city that involved citizens and students.
In the Emilia area, the main initiatives concerned:
The main initiatives in Piedmont concerned:
In the Ligurian territory, the following initiatives have been realized:
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Gifts, donations and sponsorships
Iren Group stands by the communities with the aim of promoting the socio-economic development of the territory, also through the support of cultural, social and environmental protection initiatives, innovation development activities and the dissemination of sport as an instrument of cohesion. Particular attention is paid to events and projects that have distinctive characteristics or that are rooted in the tradition of the local areas and to initiatives related to corporate values that represent an opportunity to convey messages, consistent with the Group’s guidelines, and have a constructive impact on social life.
In 2021, the Group invested around 11 million Euro in 271 projects:
- 60 in the cultural sphere (22%), including support for the Opera and Theatre Foundations in Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Genoa and Turin, initiatives in favour of the Museum of Sustainability in San Martino in Rio (RE) and a number of projects promoted by Genoa City Council in the city, support for the Luci d’Artista (Artist Lights) project in Turin, and artistic lighting during the Christmas season in all cities where the Group operates. Interesting is the initiative “Ilumina” in Volterra, where Iren installed the artist light “Planetario” (Planetary) by Carmelo Giammello: a sort of Milky Way in the Tuscan city that in 2022 will become the centre of a laboratory of cultural innovation for the future of inland areas throughout Italy. In this context, the use of the Art Bonus institute has been significant, as it makes it possible to enjoy important tax benefits in the form of tax credits; • 82 regional initiatives (30%), including the Nervi Festival in Genoa, La Spezia Summer Festival and Moonland, MiTo and Jazz Festival in Turin, Verdi Festival in Parma, and summer initiatives in Piacenza and Reggio Emilia;
- 33 sports (12%), favouring minor sports and initiatives dedicated to weaker segments of the population in order to better promote the values of social cohesion;
- 96 in the field of sustainability (36%) and its promotion towards the younger generations, including “CinemAmbiente” in Turin and Kids International Festival in Reggio Emilia, where, in collaboration with Giffoni Innovation Hub, the short film #LaChallenge was presented, an intergenerational challenge on environmental issues hosted in the enchanting atmosphere of Procida.
Donations and sponsorships by area
