Italferr at the 2025 Sustainability Forum

On 22 October 2025, the Auditorium della Tecnica Congress Centre in Rome hosted the Sustainability Forum 2025 – Focus on Businesses, an important opportunity to discuss new paths towards sustainability.

The event brought together opinion leaders, top managers and institutional representatives to discuss how businesses can integrate sustainability into their strategies, not just by introducing technological breakthroughs and financial instruments, but also through a cultural process capable of generating shared value.

The Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, opened the proceedings by emphasising the key role of businesses in the country's sustainable transformation process.

Italferr was among the protagonists of the Forum, represented by its President, Laura Martiniello, who illustrated the virtuous path undertaken by the company to promote a culture of sustainable innovation through investments in training and research and cutting-edge operating practices.

"Italferr wants to be at the forefront of change, we wish to make an active contribution towards sustainable infrastructure transition," the President said. "Our company is well aware of its role as a leading engineering player in Italy and we are engaged in multiple areas of innovation, with the aim of representing excellence domestically and internationally, by becoming authoritative supporters of skills and values for Italy's economy.

In 2025, Italferr provided over 400 hours of specialist training, involving 142 professionals in in-house courses focused on strategic issues like Carbon Footprint, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Envision Protocol. The goal is to integrate ESG criteria into the early stages of design, contributing to a profound and conscious transformation of the entire sector.

In terms of R&D, the company actively participates in major European and national projects, including Horizon Europe, Life and the MOST National Centre, in partnership with universities, research centres and businesses. Italferr’s presence at technical round tables and international conferences, such as the prestigious UIC World Congress in Beijing, consolidates our role as a global reference for disseminating sustainable methodologies.

In synergy with the FS Group, Italferr has developed innovative operational guidelines, including for the purposes of applying the Envision protocol and for assessing the impact of railway projects on the local communities, as fundamental tools for sustainable infrastructure governance.

A concrete example of innovation that has emerged from dialogue with stakeholders is the adoption of the UNI/PdR 172:2025 guidelines on “Sustainable Construction Sites”, integrated into the PACS (Sustainable Construction Site Environmental Project), for assessing the sustainability of infrastructure construction sites on the basis of environmental and social indicators. Between 2023 and 2025, the PACS method has been applied to 10 RFI projects, with another 6 currently under development.

"Sustainability is not just a goal, but a continuous process that begins with training and is implemented in projects and construction sites," concluded President Martiniello.

The Forum ended with the fourth edition of the Sustainable Business Award, presented by Ms. Martiniello to several companies that have distinguished themselves for their capacity to integrate sustainability into their business model, enhancing both their ecological footprint and their economic solidity and responsibility towards the local communities in which they operate. The Award rewards businesses that prove how growth and sustainability can coexist in practice.

Once again, Italferr confirms its leadership role in the gradual and conscious promotion of sustainable innovation, with the ambition of extending its practices beyond the FS Group, contributing to the construction of a more resilient and environmentally friendly future.