It’s not just a label, it signals a new business model that aims at positively impacting people, communities and the environment, instead of focusing only on profit: more and more Italian companies are choosing to become a B Corp, with numbers growing every year.
At Maganetti, for years we've been working with a sustainable approach at an environmental and social level, reconstructing our business model according to precise sustainability protocols. For decades we’d worked according to the traditional paradigm, where the goal is transporting goods in the times and by the means the customer requires, with a correct cost-efficiency balance. In the last decade, facing climate change and the fast-paced developments of the market, it became clear that we have to take on a different challenge: the cost-efficiency balance is no longer sufficient; we have to operate in a more and more sustainable way, in environmental and social as well as economic terms.
In 2016, therefore, we started the LNG project to reduce emissions from our fleet; in 2018 we obtained the SosLog certification for sustainable logistics; in 2019 we changed our statute to become a Benefit Company; in 2020 we obtained the B Corp certification, the first European company in our industry to do so.
It’s been a challenging path, it still is, but it’s a crucial process to build the future of the Group. Nine years after the start of the LNG project, we are happy to see the B Corp movement growing: it’s a sign of an increasingly widespread awareness.
The annual report by BCorp Italia shows some interesting data: at the end of 2024 the number of B Corp certified companies in Italy reached 327, up 26% compared to 2023. The total turnover of B Corp companies in Italy exceeds 15.7 billion euros, according to the report, with businesses active in many sectors: 51% in services, 34% in manufacturing, while retail and agriculture are less represented.
The geographical area with the most B Corp companies is Northern Italy: Lombardy counts 113 (including Maganetti), Emilia-Romagna 46, Veneto 37 and Piedmont 27. In the 2023 - 2024 comparison, the region with the highest growth in certified companies is Umbria, followed by Liguria, Trentino Alto Adige and Tuscany.
