MILAN (ITALPRESS) – The CSR Exhibition and social innovation also returns this year to light the spotlight on sustainability. From 6 to 8 October, at Bocconi University in Milan, we work to analyze the present with the aim of writing a better future: not a theoretical milestone, but a concrete process that involves more than 250 organisations, more than 500 speakers and thousands of citizens, united to address the challenges of current events. One on all, the one linked to the climate crisis, which will be the protagonist of the focus “Regenerate the planet”, one of the six thematic paths identified for the fourteenth edition. The other five thematic paths are designed to redesign relationships, rethink finance, manage organizations, live the community and renew the world of sport.
There are 19 events dedicated to environmental issues at the Salone 2026, and focus on businesses, territories, cities, agriculture, finance and everyday behaviour, with the aim of going beyond the grammar of emergency and transforming concern into concrete action. This approach interprets sustainability as a leverage of prosperity, health, safety and quality of life, consistent with the reading proposed by the European Environment Agency on the link between environment, resilience and development.
“Regenerating the planet is no longer a remissible option: it is a collective challenge that requires everyone’s commitment – says Rossella Sobrero, of the Promoter Group of the Salone –. As the environmentalist Mathis Wackernagel recalls, there is no other possible future if not the regenerative one, and this means going beyond the logic of simple restoration to activate interventions capable of bringing back healthy ecosystems. Reforestation, recovery of wetlands, reclamation of polluted sites, reintroduction of native species: they are actions that generate environmental, social and economic benefits. Companies investing in regeneration do not only respond to a moral duty, but build value in the long term, contributing to a development model that returns more than it takes. It is the change of paradigm that we want to bring to the CSR Exhibition: a cultural transformation that involves institutions, organizations and citizens”.
In the face of the current climate crisis, an overwhelming majority of Italians (62%) is convinced that “there is no minute to lose”, and that a collective commitment is necessary to reverse the course. To support it are the latest data of the Ipsos Doxa Observers, who highlight a growing crisis of trust on the most strictly environmental issues. In particular, a paradox, called “active impotence” emerges: people declare themselves ready for action, but at the same time paralyzed by the belief that individual effort is not useful without a system change (36%). Citizens tend then to overestimate the impact of some personal actions (such as waste recycling or packaging reduction) and to understimate that of more transformative choices (such as sustainable mobility, more attentive food models, the efficiency of household appliances and the attention to energy saving), with the consequence that they feel almost too virtuous (“I already doing everything possible”, states 71%), but impotent in a world that perceive as less virtuous. A strategic silence, they say the data: faced with an increasingly polarized public debate and the fear of being dragged into political disputes, many companies choose to do without saying, and only 21% still choose to expose themselves.
To try to break the vicious circle of distrust and impotence, you have to pass from the account of commitment to verifiable progress. The CSR Exhibition proposes a perspective that binds individual commitment and collective responsibility, inviting each social actor involved in transforming awareness into measurable, repeatable actions and withuniforms. For example, companies can analyze their value chain – from the purchase of raw materials to the management of end-of-life products – to reduce environmental footprint and contribute to the restoration of ecosystems, an investment that has positive effects on work, economy and public health.
Small individual actions can also be the engine of global change. For this reason, the Salone with the collaboration of AWorld launches a new challenge to its visitors: everyone can choose up to 3 sustainable actions between those proposals and engage in them. In addition, thanks to the collaboration with Rete Clima, to the achievement of the 1000 actions undertaken by the individual, the Salone will contribute to the realization of a humid area in the Bosco della CSR of Nova Milanese. Wetlands are fundamental ecosystems for the environment and people: areas of soil regularly saturated with water that perform important ecological functions such as natural water filtering, flood protection and carbon preservation.
The Cultural Programme of the Salone includes 121 events, seminars and presentations of books and research, as well as 10 workshops on different topics, including the measurement of social impact, the benefits of investments in culture, the novelties of non-financial reporting and initiatives against energy poverty.
Among the special activities, Vox Pop IA is an immersive and participative experience that will give voice to visitors through short videos and keywords on sustainability issues. Thanks to artificial intelligence, the contributions will be returned in real time in a choral story and participated in the Salone that makes each visitor co-author of a collective digital work.
Art is also the protagonist with the live work of the Milanese collective Orticanoodles: in the three days of the event, visitors can attend the realization of Look Beyond, free interpretation on large panels of the theme of the edition, Go beyond, to confirm the ability of art to make immediate the themes of sustainability. After the Salone the panels will be donated to some Milanese schools.
Also this year, the Salone renews its commitment to new generations through initiatives dedicated to university students and young professionals.
Among these, the Coffee with the expert offers a daily comparison with academics and experts from major Italian universities; To rhetoric: economists vs humanists put the two cultures in comparison with the value of humanities in the age of artificial intelligence; Meet the CSR Leaders, born in 2022 from the collaboration with Amapola and the CSRnatives network, offers individual meetings of 30 minutes between sustainability professionals and university students, graduates and young professionals.
Finally, the reflection on the impact of sustainability projects is not lacking. For the fifth consecutive year, the Salone will award the Impact Award to the best projects measured, evaluated and communicated by profit, non-profit and public administration organizations in Italy. The same activity of the Salone will also be evaluated from the point of view of the impact generated, through questionnaires given to its participants in collaboration with Opràri and Social Value Italia.
– photo press office Salone CSR –
(ITALPRESS).
