Campania's ecological transition, A2A's role between infrastructure and new job opportunities. A2A has presented its first Territorial Sustainability Report
With more than 47 million euros of value distributed across the region and nearly 9 million invested in infrastructure and facilities for the ecological transition, A2A has for the first time measured its impact on the socioeconomic fabric of Campania. It did so by presenting, during the Life Talk in Acerra, the first edition of the Territorial Sustainability Report for this region, which accounts for the Group's environmental, economic and social performance in the area in 2024 and its planned activities for the coming years. An event in which the theme of training to promote youth employment was absolutely central, with the aim of reducing the mismatch between labour supply and demand.
Here too, as with the other territorial reports, planet, people and prosperity were the three keywords at the heart of the narrative; through these three areas of sustainable development identified by the World Economic Forum, the Life Company explains how it can create added value for the environment, for people and for the community in which it operates. A contribution that in Campania, explained Fulvio Roncari – President and Chief Executive Officer of A2A Ambiente – develops "through investments, employment and orders to local suppliers. In 2024 we distributed more than 47 million euros of economic value in the Region – of which more than 28 million directed to supplier orders, 70 per cent of which went to micro and small enterprises with fewer than 50 employees – and invested nearly 9 million in infrastructure, approximately 7 of which concentrated on the plants in Acerra and Caivano".
The maintenance and efficiency improvement of the plants represented the central focus of the investments aimed at promoting the ecological transition of the Region, which also included investments for the implementation of smart solutions for public lighting and for the development of new projects for energy efficiency and the development of BESS.
The Acerra waste-to-energy plant, in particular, processed 684,000 tonnes of municipal waste, generating 647 GWh of electricity, equivalent to the needs of more than 200,000 households. This is a facility managed using the best available technologies, with advanced emission abatement systems, continuous flue gas monitoring and periodic certified analyses, guaranteeing the highest level of environmental protection. Aiming to recover value from every residual fraction in line with the principles of the circular economy, the fuel used comes from mechanically cold-treated unsorted waste, partly processed at the STIR facility in Caivano, managed by A2A, where 292,000 tonnes of waste were treated in 2024. The Caivano site also houses a plant for the production of CSS (solid secondary fuel), which is supplied to facilities located across Italy and the EU: approximately 300,000 tonnes were produced in 2024. In Campania, the company also produces 24 GWh from renewable sources (18 GWh wind and 6 GWh solar), avoiding the emission of more than 10,800 tonnes of CO2. In Bisaccia, in the Province of Avellino, between 2024 and 2025 a new 48 MW energy storage facility was authorised, to improve the flexibility of the electricity system and promote the integration of renewable sources.
"With A2A Ambiente's award of the tender for the management of the waste-to-energy plant," added Roncari, "the journey undertaken by the Group together with the Campania Region to foster the development of the circular economy through this strategic infrastructure continues. With the same vision, during 2025 we launched a project for the employment of young people from Campania, developed in collaboration with the commissioner's office led by Dr Ciciliano and the Mayors of the northern Naples area. The initiative was created to enhance human capital, fostering the development of qualified skills and opportunities to enter the job market".
Job opportunities for younger generations was one of the central themes of the entire day, which opened with a lesson given by Vincenzo Schettini, professor of "La Fisica Che Ci Piace", to around 120 students from the "Bruno Munari" Upper Secondary Institute in Acerra, "Francesco Morano" in Caivano and "Alfonso Casanova" in Naples. Following the presentation of the Territorial Sustainability Report, the second part of the Life Talk focused on the project for youth employment in the area, developed by A2A in collaboration with Generation Italy and dedicated to young people from Acerra, Afragola, Caivano, Cardito, Casandrino, Crispano, Frattamaggiore, Frattaminore and Grumo Nevano. The aim is to promote the qualified employment of young people aged between 18 and 39, through a pathway of training and job placement support for roles that companies find difficult to fill.
The discussion on this theme brought together Carlotta Ventura, Chief Communication, Sustainability and Regional Affairs Officer at A2A, Eugenia Carfora, headteacher of the Istituto Francesco Morano in Caivano, and Marco Gisotti, journalist and science communicator, moderated by Roberto Sposini, Editor-in-chief of LifeGate. With the aim of reducing the mismatch between labour supply and demand, the project is built first and foremost on dialogue with the local area, to understand what companies need and to provide them with qualified staff that is often hard to find. The debate revealed that so-called green jobs may seem to have fallen out of fashion, but the labour market tells a very different story; indeed, one of the roles of an organisation like A2A, which is engaged in protecting the planet, is also to bring these issues into schools. Thanks to the project developed in collaboration with Generation Italy, 23 young people have already been hired as sales staff and solar panel technicians, while in the coming weeks new specialist training courses will begin covering network technologies and cybersecurity, as well as the installation and maintenance of photovoltaic systems.
A special episode of the podcast News dal Pianeta Terra has been produced on the topics covered during this event, which will also feature the voices of some of the key participants from this Life Talk.
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