sustainability

Copernicus Climate Change Service: The European State of the Climate 2025

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From heatwaves to near-record ocean temperatures, Europe remains the fastest-warming continent


According to the latest European State of the Climate report (ESOTC 2025), published by Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation, Europe remains the world’s fastest-warming continent.

The report, released on 29 April 2026, documents a year marked by record heatwaves, near-record ocean temperatures, destructive wildfires, shrinking glaciers, and mounting pressure on biodiversity. More than 95% of Europe experienced above-average temperatures in 2025.

Globally, 2025 ranked as the third-warmest year ever recorded, with planetary warming now reaching approximately 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels. If emissions continue at their current pace, the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C threshold could be exceeded before the end of this decade.

Across Europe, the signs of climate change are no longer isolated events but interconnected realities reshaping ecosystems, economies, and daily life.

Copernicus Climate: Europe in 2025

Temperature: Almost the entire continent saw above‑average temperatures. Several northern European countries logged their warmest or second‑warmest year.

Heatwaves: Europe endured its second most-severe heatwave on record; sub‑Arctic Fennoscandia saw its longest.

Wildfires: Record burnt area and fire emissions, led by August fires on the Iberian Peninsula.

Oceans: Highest annual sea surface temperature on record, with 86% of the region experiencing at least “strong” marine heatwave conditions.

Glaciers & snow: Net mass loss across all European glacier regions. Snow cover extent and mass both third lowest on record.

Floods/storms: Strong regional contrasts. Storms and flooding hit some areas, but overall less widespread than in recent years.

Energy: Renewables supplied 46.4% of Europe’s electricity. Solar power set a new contribution record (12.5%).

Copernicus Climate Change Service: line graph showing rising global atmospheric CO₂ and methane concentrations from 2020 to 2025.

Temperature across Europe’s land and seas


According to the Copernicus Climate report, Europe is warming more than twice as fast as the global average — and 2025 brought that into sharp focus. On land, almost the entire continent (at least 95%) saw above-average annual temperatures, with Europe suffering its second most severe heatwave on record. At sea, the picture was equally alarming: the annual sea surface temperature for the European ocean region reached an all-time high, and a record 86% of the region experienced at least “strong” marine heatwave conditions.

Hydrological conditions in 2025


In 2025, much of northwestern to eastern Europe was drier than average, with annual precipitation totals 10–40% below normal. This led to record-low soil moisture in some areas and below-average river flow in 70% of Europe’s rivers. In contrast, southwestern and parts of northeastern Europe saw above-average precipitation, soil moisture, and river flow. These patterns also influenced sunshine, cloud cover, and climate-driven renewable power potential.

The contrasts aligned with prevailing atmospheric circulation. High pressure brought drier, sunnier conditions to northwestern, central, and eastern Europe, while low pressure over the North Atlantic shifted storm tracks further south toward southwestern Europe.

Across the Iberian Peninsula, spring brought above-average rainfall, followed by summer heatwaves. This shift created abundant dried vegetation that fueled large wildfires.

Key messages

  • Soil moisture: 2025 ranked as one of the three driest years for soil moisture across Europe since 1992. In May, 35% of Europe experienced “extreme” agricultural drought.
  • Precipitation (northwest/central Europe): 2025 ranked among the ten driest years in 47 years for this region — a sharp contrast to the exceptionally wet conditions of 2023 and 2024.
  • River flooding: Despite several significant flood events, total flooded extent was the second lowest since 1992 and far smaller than the widespread flooding seen in 2023 and 2024.
  • Extreme precipitation: The share of Europe’s land area affected by extreme precipitation was below average, notably smaller than in several recent years — especially for the most extreme events.
  • Wildfire emissions: Annual wildfire emissions reached record highs in Spain (where contrasting hydrological conditions fueled large fires), as well as in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Long heatwave in sub-Arctic Fennoscandia


In July 2025, sub-Arctic Fennoscandia experienced its longest and most severe heatwave on record, lasting 21 days from 12 July to 1 August. Temperatures near and within the Arctic Circle reached 30°C.

The region typically sees up to two “strong” heat stress days per year, but in 2025 some areas endured almost two weeks at this level. The combination of dry conditions and high temperatures produced “moderate” to “severe” drought during the heatwave, along with up to two weeks of elevated fire danger.

The heatwave coincided with a marine heatwave in the Norwegian Sea, as well as parts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

Cold environments in a warming climate


From the Alps to the Arctic, Europe’s ice and snow cover is shrinking. The area experiencing winter days with freezing temperatures is also declining.

Snow cover: In 2025, end-of-season snow cover extent and mass were the third lowest in the 42-year record. In March alone, the snow-covered area was roughly 1.32 million km² below average — an area equivalent to France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria combined.

Glaciers: European glaciers recorded a net mass loss in 2025, with the most negative balances observed in Iceland.

Greenland: The Greenland Ice Sheet lost approximately 139 gigatonnes (Gt) of ice in 2025, equivalent to about 1.5 times the total ice stored in all European Alpine glaciers.

Climate policy and action: biodiversity


Biodiversity — the variety of life on Earth — is essential for a sustainable future, yet climate change is a major driver of its decline.

Healthy ecosystems provide clean air and water, fertile soils, and pollination, all of which underpin food security, livelihoods, and human health. Biodiversity also helps regulate the climate and buffers against extreme weather events.

Recognising this link, European policy frameworks have increasingly integrated climate and biodiversity. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to protect and restore nature. By the end of 2025, approximately half of the Strategy’s recommended actions were either in place or fully completed, with most of the remainder already underway.

Climate’s impact on biodiversity


Marine heatwaves have shifted from occasional to annual events, driving mass mortality, species shifts, and ecosystem disruption. From 2023 to 2025, the entire Mediterranean Sea experienced at least “strong” marine heatwave conditions each year.

Posidonia oceanica seagrass — covering ~19,000 km² of Europe’s coasts — is highly sensitive to heat. Thermal stress has driven a 34% decline in its meadows over 50 years. Yet conservation efforts over the past decade have stabilised some areas, boosting species richness, restoring fish nurseries, and enhancing carbon storage and coastal protection.

Peatland wildfires: Europe has lost more peatland proportionally than any other region. Remaining sites like Deurnsche Peel and Mariapeel (Netherlands) are vital. Dried-out peat ignites easily — in April 2020, a 710-hectare fire burned for four days and smouldered for two months. Such fires kill amphibians, ground-nesting birds, and Sphagnum mosses, degrading habitats. Solutions include green firebreaks, ecological corridors, buffer zones, and native reforestation.

Copernicus Climate: trends in climate indicators


The latest Copernicus Climate data shows a clear pattern: the planet is warming, oceans are absorbing more heat, ice is disappearing, and sea levels are rising. Europe and the Mediterranean are warming significantly faster than the global average.

Rising temperatures (since pre-industrial, 1850–1900)

  • Global: +1.4°C
  • Europe: +2.4°C
  • WMO Region VI (Europe): +2.6°C
  • Arctic: +3.2°C

Oceans under pressure

Sea surface temperatures since the 1980s:

  • Global oceans: +0.6°C
  • Europe: +1.1°C
  • Mediterranean Sea: +1.4°C

Ocean heat content (upper 2000 m) has risen steadily since 1993.

Sea level rise (1999–2025)

  • Global: +3.7 mm per year
  • Europe: +2–4 mm per year

Greenhouse gases (annual increase since 2020)

  • CO₂: +2.6 ppm
  • CH₄: +11.6 ppb

Ice loss accelerating

  • Arctic sea ice (September): -33% since the 1980s
  • Antarctic sea ice (February): -20%

Ice loss since the 1970s:

  • Greenland: -5,747 Gt
  • Antarctica: -4,876 Gt
  • Global glaciers: -9,580 Gt

These indicators confirm that climate change is not a distant threat — it is an ongoing transformation already reshaping ecosystems, coastlines, and weather patterns worldwide.

Final thoughts


Reading the Copernicus 2025 Climate report (download it here), one might be tempted to highlight the positives. Renewables at 46%. Solar at a record 12.5%. Half of biodiversity actions completed.

Do not be fooled.

As climate scientist Kevin Anderson has long argued, every metric points the wrong way. Global temperature: up. Ocean heat: up. Sea levels: up. Ice loss: accelerating. Europe’s warming rate: twice the global average. The 1.5°C Paris threshold: set to be breached by the end of this decade — a decade earlier than predicted.

This is not progress. This is managed decline dressed up as hope.

Leaders knew the science. They had the tools. They chose delay. Most importantly, they chose fossil fuels. In doing so, they chose their own political timelines over the planet’s physical timelines. That is not a failure of capability. It is a failure of will — and of conscience.

The report does not show that we are on the right track. It shows that we are running off track, and those at the controls have intentionally refused to brake.

Copernicus Climate Change Service: The European State of the Climate 2025 Read More »

Overshoot Day in Italy: one year’s ecological budget already depleted

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Ecological debt: how we live beyond our means — using in just 123 days the resources meant to last a year


Overshoot Day in Italy fell on May 3 this year. Three days earlier than in 2025, when it occurred on May 6. From that day onward, Italy has been symbolically living on credit from the planet, having exhausted the water, energy, and natural resources that the Earth can regenerate in a full year.

An ecological debt that places Italy broadly in line with other European countries, though still lagging behind those with later Overshoot Days.

France reached its Overshoot Day earlier, on April 24. Germany (May 10), the United Kingdom (May 22), and Spain (June 4) follow — reflecting a comparatively greater ability to balance consumption with regeneration. Luxembourg, however, reached its Overshoot Day as early as February, while Qatar’s falls on February 4.

Globally, in the early 1970s, Overshoot Day fell in late December (December 25 in 1971). By 1990, it had already moved to mid-October.

Calendar-style graphic showing "Country Overshoot Days 2026" — the date by which humanity would use up a full year's worth of Earth's biological resources if everyone lived like a given country. For example, Overshoot Day in Italy fell on May 3, 2026. Countries with earlier dates (such as Qatar on February 4) have higher resource demand per person. Source: Global Footprint Network, 2026.

Entering the phase of overexploitation


The data is compiled by the Global Footprint Network, an international research organisation that measures countries’ ecological footprints by comparing their natural resource consumption with the planet’s capacity to regenerate them.

For Italy, this means that in just over four months, the country has consumed what the Earth can regenerate in an entire year. From that point forward, demand exceeds supply — and the deficit accumulates.

This imbalance is not abstract. It materialises as environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, waste accumulation, greenhouse gas build-up, and land consumption.

The impact of our lifestyles


The numbers speak clearly: if every person on Earth adopted our consumption patterns, we would need about 2.7 planets to stay in balance. 

This imbalance is not accidental — it is structural. It reflects production and consumption systems built on continuous growth, where demand routinely exceeds actual needs and efficiency gains are often offset by increased use.

This concern is echoed at the highest institutional levels:

“Much of the ‘natural’ capital upon which so much of human wellbeing and economic activity depends — water, land, the air and atmosphere, biodiversity and marine resources — continues its seemingly inexorable decline. The cost of inaction and the price humanity will eventually pay is likely to dwarf the cost of swift and decisive action now.”
— Achim Steiner, former UNEP Executive Director 

Move the date later in the year


The goal is simple: move the date later in the year.

But doing so requires more than a checklist of good intentions — it demands a shift in how systems are designed and how value is defined.

It means transitioning from linear to circular models, where waste is reduced at the source rather than managed downstream.
It means rethinking energy, food, and mobility systems so that efficiency is not just technological, but cultural.
And it means designing cities that reduce the need for consumption, not just optimise it.

And it also means confronting everyday habits — from what we buy to how we eat — recognising that individual choices, while limited on their own, become powerful when aligned with systemic change.

Even small shifts, when scaled, can move the date forward by days. Structural transformation can move it by months.

Final thoughts


Italy’s Overshoot Day is not meant to be observed — it is meant to be reversed.

Yet none of this is possible without acknowledging a harder truth: moving the date means moving our habits.

Italy exhausted its annual budget in 123 days — not by accident, but by design.

The same systems that built prosperity now threaten to undermine it.

But systems are not fixed. They can be redesigned.

The choice is ours: continue consuming as if tomorrow will never come, or recognise that every day moved later is a day earned back for future generations.

Overshoot Day in Italy arrived three days earlier this year.
Next year, it could arrive later.

In essence, we need to ask: what kind of world do we want?

Overshoot Day in Italy: one year’s ecological budget already depleted Read More »

Labour, today: what has (not) changed

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An update on labour exploitation, modern-day slavery and human rights


On May 1st, we celebrate labour. But it may be more honest to look at how that work exists.

Because in 2026, labour exploitation has not disappeared. It has become more complex, more fragmented — and easier to ignore.

The system hasn’t changed. It has scaled.

Investigations into global supply chains continue to confirm what is often treated as an exception: exploitation is not on the margins of production. It sits at its centre.

From garments to electronics, companies still achieve cost efficiency, in part, through pressure that travels down the chain — until it reaches those with the least power to resist it.

Labour — What the system depends on


Recent benchmarks by KnowTheChain, a project of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, offer a useful lens.

Across industries, performance remains low. In the food and beverage sector, reports from Brazil’s coffee production describe working weeks stretching beyond legal limits, degrading living conditions, and cases of debt bondage. In technology manufacturing, only a handful of companies score above average — and none adequately respond to specific allegations of forced labour.

Even where policies exist, enforcement is inconsistent.
And the model itself — particularly just-in-time production — continues to create conditions where abuse becomes more likely, not less.

The workers the system relies on most


Migrant labour sits at the core of many of these sectors: construction, agriculture, logistics, care.

And yet, it is also where vulnerability concentrates.

Many workers arrive already in debt, having paid high recruitment fees for jobs that do not match what was promised. Once employed, their position is often tied to temporary visas, employer sponsorship, or informal arrangements that make leaving difficult and speaking out risky.

What follows is not always visible, but it is consistent: wage theft, excessive hours, unsafe conditions, restricted movement.

Between 2022 and 2025, authorities and researchers have recorded thousands of cases globally, with agriculture and construction showing the highest concentration. Most involve violations that are not exceptional, but systemic — embedded in how labour is managed, priced, and controlled.

Workers are essential to the system. But remain structurally exposed within it.

Italy: luxury and labour exploitation, side by side


Closer to home, investigations between 2025 and 2026 have made this contradiction harder to ignore.

In subcontracted workshops supplying major luxury brands, authorities uncovered what they described as “heavy exploitation” of migrant workers — often underpaid, sometimes undocumented, producing goods sold at exponentially higher prices.

At the same time, some brand units have been placed under administration due to labour abuses, while others have cut large numbers of suppliers following violations.

These are not isolated incidents.

Prosecutors have pointed instead to a “generalised manufacturing method”— a system where responsibility fragments across layers of subcontracting, and where visibility fades as production moves further away from the brand.

Luxury, in this context, does not sit apart from exploitation.
It can exist alongside it.

The pressure behind the product


Speed drives part of this dynamic. The rise of ultra-fast fashion has intensified cost pressure across supply chains, forcing suppliers into continuous price reductions and unstable production cycles. Those at the top transfer downward what they cannot absorb — through lower wages, longer hours, and compromised conditions.

This is not an unintended outcome. It is the economic logic of scale and acceleration.

Transparency, but on whose terms?


There are signs of movement.

The European Union is advancing toward stricter supply chain traceability, and some brands have begun mapping their networks more systematically. In Italy, a recent agreement introduced a voluntary system for suppliers to disclose labour conditions and obtain certification.

But the key word remains: voluntary.

Transparency is still, in many cases, a choice — not an obligation. And beyond the first tier of suppliers, visibility remains limited.
At the same time, new regulations are emerging globally. Investigations into forced labour are increasing, and legislative frameworks are slowly taking shape.

But the pace of regulation does not yet match the speed of production.

What remains unchanged


This creates a familiar contradiction.
Even as sustainability becomes a dominant narrative, labour conditions often remain secondary:

  • supply chains extend beyond clear accountability
  • companies regularly outsource responsibility
  • “green” transitions risk, excluding the very workers they depend on

In fact, what is presented as progress does not always translate into protection.

What May 1st should remind us


In conclusion, labour exploitation today is not hidden because it is rare. It is hidden because it is structural.

It exists in subcontracting.
In pricing models.
In the distance—geographical and economic—between brands and workers.

And often, in the gap between what is communicated and what is practised.

On a day that celebrates workers, the question is not only how far we have come.

It is also: who remains invisible in the system we continue to participate in?

Labour, today: what has (not) changed Read More »

Earth Day 2026: what are we celebrating?

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Between greenwashing and collapse: listening to what the signals really say


Happy Earth Day 2026? That’s the question we need to ask ourselves.

The UN Environment Programme titled its 22 April newsletter: “Happy Earth Day! Listening to the planet’s signals.” Are we still at this point? Still marking Earth Day this way? Celebrating? 

The very next lines of the same newsletter list the signals: rising temperatures, biodiversity loss, pollution, extreme heat. It’s hard to find happiness — or cause for celebration — in that list.

So, happy for what? What are we actually celebrating? The fact that the planet is still here? Or our own inaction?

The net zero scam


Kevin Anderson, a climate scientist, offers a blunt answer: our leaders have chosen to fail on climate change for thirty years. Every single metric is pointing in the wrong direction. Even countries like China, which are doing relatively well in terms of reductions, are still far from where they should be. 

“If the problem gets harder every single year,” Anderson says, “I don’t call that progress. Progress is only when you deliver what you have to.” In his view, the widely touted goal of net zero by 2050 is a scam — because until we eliminate fossil fuels and significantly cut agricultural emissions, temperatures will just keep rising. And the climate will just keep changing.

50% chance of AMOC collapse


Meanwhile, in The Guardian, George Monbiot warns that a catastrophic event is already upon us — yet we’re barely hearing about it. He points to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the ocean current that delivers heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic. The first study suggesting AMOC could have an “on” and “off” state was published in 1961. For decades, a human-induced collapse was considered a “low-probability, high-impact” event — devastating, but unlikely. That has changed. Recent research now describes it as a “high-probability, high-impact” threat. Last week, Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, a leading expert on the subject, put the chances of a shutdown at over 50%, with the tipping point potentially arriving “in the middle of this century.”

If AMOC collapses, northern Europe could see a massive drop in winter temperatures, and the Amazon’s water cycles could be so disrupted that the rainforest itself might tip into cascading collapse.

Final thoughts


From a 50% chance of AMOC collapse to net zero called a scam — the gap between celebration and reality has never been wider.

Yet there we were, on Earth Day 2026, reading cheerful newsletter subject lines while scientists warned that we’re drifting toward a climate tipping point with better-than-even odds.

This is not progress. Not leadership. And certainly not the future.

Maybe it’s time to stop celebrating — and start listening to the signals the planet is actually sending.
Because there’s nothing to celebrate. 

Earth Day 2026: what are we celebrating? Read More »

Solutions to micro and nanoplastics: what can we actually do?

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Second part — Notes from the Scientific and informative day promoted by the Microplastics on Human Health Committee with the municipality of Milan


After Monday’s post on research and scenarios, we turn to a more urgent question: are there realistic solutions to micro and nanoplastics?

This is the second part of the second annual outreach conference on micro- and nanoplastics, organised by the Microplastics on Human Health Committee in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan. (You can read part. 1 here).

Exploring ideas and solutions to micro and nanoplastics.

Image from the Municipality of Milan and Acquairum for the scientific and informative day "Micro and nanoplastics: research status and scenarios," promoted by the Microplastics on Human Health Committee with the Municipality of Milan.

The recovery of micro- and nanoplastics in biomethane production


Alessandro Daneu, Environmental Engineer

He focused on organic wastewater treatment through anaerobic digestion for biogas and biomethane production. This is not only an excellent example of circular economy but also — with appropriate process modifications — a potential solution to reduce the dispersion of micro- and nanoplastics while simultaneously using them to increase biomethane production.
These solutions are currently being tested and patented, further confirmed by collaboration with Tongji University in Shanghai.

The starting problem is simple:
We are immersed in plastic. Ultimately, it has to go somewhere.

Today, we recover large, visible plastic at collection centres. In some European countries, every plastic number has its own container. When plastic is mixed, separation systems exist — but recovery is very difficult. The only plastic easily recoverable is PET (bottles).

Italy is at the forefront of PET recovery, recovering more than 50% — higher than the European requirement.

Plastics that aren’t recovered end up in waste-to-energy plants. Since they’re a petroleum derivative, combustion is the most appropriate use.

The real problem is micro- and nanoplastics — about which we know little.
Plastics from organic waste most easily enter the water cycle. The challenge is separating plastics without shredding them, as was once done.

Biomethane as an opportunity for Europe:

It represents the valorisation of waste. These are molecules that, if recovered, do not enter the environment. The nitrogen contained in organic proteins is transformed into ammonia, which can create environmental problems. Here, ammonia recovery is also possible.
From an energy perspective, biomethane replaces natural methane — reducing foreign dependence, creating a domestic product, and providing clean fuel recovered from recycling.

Today, many freight trucks are methane-powered, and a large portion run on biomethane. 

Energy is recovered and sold. Fertilisers can be made. Ammonia can be recovered as bioammonia. By-products that can be reused.

FMSW (municipal organic waste). Initial separation is important because all sorts of things end up in the organic waste. The recycling process does not consume external water.

Debunking some myths:

• Separating macroplastics does not eliminate microplastics and nanoplastics — they still end up in our waters.
• The only way to intercept them is in purifiers, wastewater, and water treatment processes.
• Biodegradable or compostable plastic does not solve the problem. We get microplastics and nanoplastics anyway.
• The downstream purifier does not solve the problem on its own unless appropriate treatment policies are implemented.
• Anaerobic digestion does not solve the entire problem — in fact, it could create one due to ammonia.

What can we do: solutions to micro and nanoplastics

PHAs and microplastics: sustainable solutions for agriculture and design


Eligio Martini, Chemical Engineer and Maip group president

The accumulation of microplastics in agricultural soils is an emerging problem threatening soil fertility, crop health, and food security. Conventional plastics used in agriculture — mulch films, greenhouse films, irrigation materials — fragment and persist in the environment for a long time.

Enter PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates): bioplastics of microbial origin, completely biodegradable in soil. A promising alternative.

The confusion around “bioplastics”
The term isn’t accurate. “Bioplastics” means everything:

  • Some are of natural origin (not from oil).
  • Some are biodegradable in specific conditions.
  • But not all bioplastics are biodegradable.
  • Some bioplastics come from oil and are biodegradable.

Real bioplastics are both natural in origin and biodegradable.

What is PHA?

A natural polymer. Exists in nature. Biodegradable.
Forms through fermentation — a natural process. Transformation of a polymer into biomass, water, and carbon dioxide.

PHA is a family of polymers. Fermenters are used to produce it, but the process is natural.
Polyester is a large family of materials that can be more or less harmful. Polyester is the chemical characteristic of the material. The chemical structure makes it a polyester, but there are different kinds of polyesters.

Why PHA matters:
Unlike PLA (which is not biodegradable everywhere and lasts like traditional plastic), PHA is biodegradable under all conditions—controlled or not by man.

Truly biodegradable materials:

  • Pure cellulose (paper, not wood)
  • Rice starch
  • PHA

PHA is the only natural material that can be processed like plastic but is not plastic. It releases no microplastics. Nothing toxic for the environment.

A striking statistic:
All the plastic islands we see in the seas? Only 2% of the plastic present in the water. PHA would help solve the rest.

Applications are vast:
Pens, cosmetics, packaging, bioremediation of the seas, agriculture — where plastic gets discarded and never collected.

So why aren’t we using PHA everywhere?
It’s called “the sleeping giant” — quite unknown, perhaps to emphasise its potential but limited use. It is more expensive than plastic, so it’s used for high-value items.

The challenge: passing the concept that even if it costs more, the long-term positive effects are worth it.

Note: The MAIP Group (European) is one of the few producers of PHA.

The microplastic-free lamp and fashion from organic farming and certified forests


Natasha Calandrino Van Kleef and Carlo Covini — Sustainable design experts, NKV and Lenzing

Natasha presented the design of a design object — the “Sibilla” lamp prototype — entirely made with a process that produces no microplastics throughout the entire product cycle.

Together with Carlo Covini (Lenzing manager), she also illustrated a virtuous example of completely natural clothing, including all its components and therefore certifiable: “Garments from Organic Farming and Certified Forests.”

Key distinction: biodegradable vs. compostable

  • Biodegradable: a natural process (light, water, air)
  • Compostable: an industrial process

This distinction forms the backdrop to the new NKV Fashion & Lenzing project — the result of years of research into microplastic pollution in fashion.

What they discussed:
Garments made from 100% hemp or 100% organic cotton, both GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified.
Sewn with innovative TENCEL™ Lyocell sewing thread from certified forests.

The bigger picture:
Cellulosic fibres make up only 6% of the market.
Meanwhile, synthetic fibre production is increasing.

Biochar and innovative solutions


Dalia Benefatto — Sustainable economy expert

She explained the nature of biochar: a vegetable carbon obtained from the pyrolysis of agricultural waste and organic residues.

Why biochar is promising:
The production process has particularly attractive environmental characteristics — it co-produces renewable energy and is carbon-negative.

But most importantly, biochar is a prime tool for removing micro- and nanoplastics from the environment.

Milestones achieved and future potential
Among the advantages of biochar: its use as a carbon-negative pigment for dyeing — an eco-friendly and functional alternative.

The analysis addresses pressing challenges, exploring its potential effectiveness in mitigating PFAS. An experimental study is proposed on cotton-polyester blend fabrics, with the aim of transforming them into new by-products while eliminating the release of microplastics.

Key concept: Return economy

  • Waste as a resource
  • Waste valorisation

And: biochar removes CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Innovation and process in hospitals


Elena Bottinelli — Director, Villa Erbosa – San Donato group

She emphasised that those working in the healthcare sector cannot ignore the One Health approach — the interconnection between human health, animal health, and environmental health.

The key question:
How are hospitals implementing initiatives to reduce their environmental impact?

The scale of the problem:
25% of hospital waste is plastic.

The challenge:
Reducing plastic consumption while maintaining cost-effectiveness and sterility — guaranteed by the use of disposable products.

The proposal:
Process innovations that combine plastic reduction with organisational efficiency, resulting in positive impacts on overall sustainability. Evidence from best practices.

Solutions to micro and nanoplastics — Final thoughts


So yes, solutions to micro and nanoplastics exist.
The question is whether we — citizens, institutions, industries — are willing to adopt them before the system reaches its limits.

Time is not on our side.

From biomethane recovery to PHA, from biochar to circular processes, the ideas are there. But they remain fragmented — often expensive, often limited in scale, often carried forward by the same actors.

And this is where a familiar discomfort returns.

When we hear about certifications, “certified forests”, biodegradable materials, something doesn’t fully settle. Not because these solutions are false. But because we have learned how easily they can be absorbed into narratives that promise change without transforming the system.

Greenwashing wasn’t named here either.
But again, it lingered.

In sectors like fashion, the gap is still evident. Beyond pilot projects and virtuous examples, the structural issues remain: overproduction, waste, and a system that continues to generate the problem faster than it can solve it.

So the question is no longer whether solutions exist.
It is whether we are ready to recognise the difference between solutions and stories — and who benefits when we confuse the two.

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