Corporate finance and valuation: ESG factors become a key to understanding risk and value creation.
La sustainable finance continues to evolve in a context marked by new rules, geopolitical volatility, and industrial transformations. In this scenario, theIntegration of ESG factors in investment processes it is seen less and less as a reputational choice and more and more as a useful tool for interpret risks and identify opportunities di long-term growth.
This is the message that emerges from the interview with Fabio Caiani, Managing Director and Head of South East Europe of Nordea Asset Management, according to whom elements such as reporting quality, resilience of business models, risk management climate and credibility of transition plans have an increasingly direct impact on investment decisions.
The approach described by Nordea shows how sustainability is becoming deeply embedded in financial analysis models. In the sector bond, ESG factors are used to strengthen credit analysis; on the front stockInstead, the focus is on tools that combine ESG integration, impact, and quantitative approaches. The point is not to separate performance and responsibility, but integrate both dimensions into a more complete reading of value and risk.
A particularly relevant area concerns the energy transition, indicated as one of the most interesting areas for investors. For many companies, in fact, decarbonization is not only a response to regulatory pressure, but a path with a concrete economic rationale, linked both to the reduction of operating costs and new growth prospects. From this perspective, energy efficiency and the transition of emission-intensive sectors become increasingly strategic areas of investment.
This evolution is also reflected in broader areas of finance and economic evaluation. The recent CNDCEC guide on ESG factors in company valuation Indeed, it confirms that these elements are increasingly becoming part of strategic analysis, business models, and business plans. This message is consistent with what is emerging from the asset management world: ESG factors are no longer ancillary information, but an increasingly relevant component for understanding risk, resilience and the ability to generate value over time.
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Italian banks: sustainability is advancing, but a gap remains between listed and unlisted banks.
Il Italian banking sector show progress evident on the front of the sustainabilityBut with speeds still very different between listed and unlisted institutions. According to the most recent analyses by Standard Ethics, about the 75% of the main ones listed Italian banks reaches today a level of sustainability equal to or higher than the compliance threshold, while among the unlisted this share drops to 36%The data indicates a real improvement of the system, but also a still significant gap in the ability to structure governance, transparency and ESG policies.
In the listed segment, the picture now appears to be quite mature. Standard Ethics notes that the The Italian listed banking system is among the most advanced in Europe on ESG issues, with BPER Banca and FinecoBank at the top of the rankings and a broad group of institutions achieving solid levels of compliance with international standards. This result reflects a growing structure of governance, codes of conduct, environmental objectives, and sustainability measures, also supported by European and national regulatory pressure.
The situation is different for unlisted banks. In this segment, only a little over a third of institutions achieve a Sustainable Grade, while the majority remain below the threshold of full sustainability. According to Standard Ethics, gap compared to the listed ones it depends above all on a lower quality of disclosure and ESG policies that are not yet fully consolidated, particularly on issues such as human rights, environmental impact, artificial intelligence, and gender equality in government bodies.
The long-term reading, however, is less pessimistic. The analysis by Standard Ethics shows that in last twenty years the Italian banking sector has improved significantly its own alignment with ESG principles promoted by the EU, UN, and OECD. Listed banks now represent a more advanced benchmark, but even among unlisted banks, there are signs of convergence, driven by improved reporting quality and the growing attention of supervisory authorities.
The interesting point, therefore, is not only that banks are “more sustainable” than before, but that the sustainability is becoming more and more a quality factor of the business model and the ability to manage risks, reputation and market accessIn this sense, the banking sector offers a useful snapshot for businesses as well: it's not enough to simply declare attention to ESG issues; it needs to be translated into processes, governance, and credible disclosures.
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Energy: the transition is no longer just about climate, but a lever for stability and competitiveness
La energy transition is changing nature. It is no longer just an environmental or regulatory issue, but an increasingly central factor of economic stability, competitiveness painting e strategic resilienceThis is the direction that emerges by putting together three converging signals: the macroeconomic reading of the ECB, the industrial analysis of the IEA and the new outlook of theERM Sustainability Institute.
According to Frank Elderson, member of the Executive Board of the ECB, la Europe's heavy dependence on fossil fuels makes it more difficult to maintain price stability, because it exposes families, businesses, and markets to energy and geopolitical shocks. From this perspective, accelerate the transition to clean energy produced internally is not only a climatic choice, but a condition to reduce volatility, strengthen the macroeconomic stability e support long-term growth.
This reading is accompanied by that of the IEA, which highlights how the energy transition it is now also a major industrial transformationThe global cleantech market is expected to grow to around $2.000 trillion by 2035, but this expansion still relies on highly concentrated supply chains, with a very high dependence on China in several key segmentsThe risk, therefore, concerns not only the cost of energy, but also the security of supply chains and the ability of advanced economies to build a more resilient industrial base.
The third element concerns how companies are reading this transformation. According to ERM Sustainability Institute's 2026 Annual Trends Report, the sustainability she entered the fundamental business choicesIn the energy sector, this means managing growing complexity: rising electricity demand, geopolitical tensions, infrastructure under pressure, and the need for more flexible, decentralized, and integrated solutions.
The message is clear: the energy transition can no longer be read as an additional cost, but as a structural variable of economic policy, competitiveness and risk management. For companies, this means increasingly integrating energy, decarbonisation and supply chain resilience into their investment decisions and operating models.
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Water: From an abundant resource to a strategic risk for the economy, infrastructure, and digital.
Water is emerging as one of the major economic and industrial sustainability issues. It's no longer just an environmental or infrastructural issue: today, the availability, quality, and management of water resources directly impact competitiveness, operational continuity, and investment capacity. In Italy, according to TEHA's White Paper on Water Value 2026, The extended water supply chain generates 384 billion euros in added value., equal to about 20% of GDP, involving beyond 1,5 million businesses and 3,6 million employees.
This economic centrality is accompanied, however, by a increasing fragility. TEHA estimates that drought, floods e inefficiencies in resource management entail an annual cost of approximately 13,4 billion euros in Italy, equal to 227 euros per capita, double the European average. At the same time, the national water system continues to show structural critical issues: obsolete networks, low wastewater reuse, and investment delays make the country particularly exposed to the effects of climate change.
Il global picture confirms that the problem is destined to worsen. According to Legambiente's 2026 Water Atlas, in addition 2,2 billions of people in the world they do not have safe access to drinking water, while about the 70-72% of available fresh water is used in agriculture.To the traditional pressure of agriculture, industry and energy is added today that of digital transformationData centers and artificial intelligence systems require increasing amounts of water for cooling and infrastructure operation.
The Italy is in a delicate position. Legambiente highlights that the country It is among the first in Europe for drinking water withdrawals, but continues to lose an average of 42,4% of the water fed into the network, with peaks that in At noon they reach up to 60%.
La water issue is thus moving from the perimeter of utilities and infrastructures to that of competitiveness of the countryInvestments, governance and innovation therefore become light decisive not only for sustainability, but for the maintenance of the production system.
