Novamont, a Versalis company (ENI), has published its sixth Impact Report since acquiring benefit corporation status in 2020. Unlike previous editions, the 2025 report introduces a significant change: for the first time, it also incorporates the Sustainability Report, which the Novara-based company had published separately since 2008.

The result is a single report that gives equal weight to economic and financial figures and to those relating to the common-benefit purposes set out in the articles of association. Another indication that, for a company that has chosen benefit corporation status, reporting on impact has become an exercise carrying the same weight as financial reporting.

How the 2025 Report is structured

Bringing the two documents together serves a specific purpose: to avoid the overlap that in previous years meant covering the same issues twice, which risked presenting an inconsistent picture. The report is now organised into chapters aligned with the seven B Corp standards: mission and stakeholder governance, climate action, circularity, fair work, justice and equity, human rights, and institutional relations. These pillars are used as external assessment standards for measuring impact, in line with legislation governing benefit corporations, and are supported by stable, year-on-year comparable KPIs and the GRI standards of the Global Reporting Initiative.

Among the most significant quantitative findings is the alignment with the EU Taxonomy: 98.6% of eligible turnover associated with the production of primary plastics complies with European environmental sustainability criteria, placing Novamont among the European industrial companies with the highest level of Taxonomy alignment in its sector. Alongside the environmental strand, historically the most developed area of Novamont's disclosure, the 2025 Report shows a growing focus on social issues: diversity, equity, inclusion and human rights now have dedicated chapters and KPIs, reflecting a maturing approach that broadens the focus on people throughout the value chain.

A benefit corporation since 2020

Since January 2016, Italy has been the first country in the world to introduce, by law, the legal form of the benefit corporation, which allows entrepreneurs and investors to safeguard the company’s mission over time, even beyond the pursuit of profit. Italy now has more than 5,300 benefit corporations. They voluntarily commit to pursuing one or more common-benefit purposes alongside profit: positive effects for people, communities, local areas, the environment, and cultural and social assets.

The law sets out two non-negotiable requirements for them: protecting their mission by stating it in their corporate purpose, and measuring what matters by reporting their results with the same rigour applied to economic and financial figures. This is where the Impact Report becomes a distinctive tool: a document that brings together economic performance and social and environmental impact, making a company's actual contribution to the system in which it operates transparent. Indeed, it represents an evolution of traditional reporting towards broader accountability, looking not only at those who own a company but also at those affected by its activities.

For Novamont, the decision to become a benefit corporation in 2020 and to obtain B Corp certification formalised a journey that had been part of the company's DNA since 1990: combining industrial innovation, competitiveness and long-term value creation with a measurable positive impact. The Novara-based bioeconomy multinational has linked its five common-benefit purposes, set out in its articles of association, to a verifiable operating model that connects governance with its stated environmental and social objectives. Strengthened by B Corp certification, obtained in 2020 and now being brought into line with B Lab's new standards, the benefit model has therefore become an industrial lever before it is a reputational one: it guides investment, supplier selection, product development and relations with local communities.

Proof of how deeply sustainability governance is embedded within the company is the fact that Novamont’s head of impact is its chief executive officer, Catia Bastioli, the company’s top executive.

2025 highlights

Looking at the economic figures, Novamont closed 2025 with a turnover of 237 million euros, 19 million euros invested in research and development and a portfolio of 1,800 active patents and patent applications across 149 patent families. Eighty-seven per cent of business customers describe themselves as satisfied or very satisfied. On climate and the environment, 65% of revenue is regenerative, 51% of the materials used come from renewable plant-based sources and 100% of purchased electricity comes from certified renewable sources.

In terms of circularity, the Cambia impronta! Scegli la leggerezza (Change your footprint, choose something light!) project with Unicoop Firenze and Legambiente attracted more than 10,000 visitors. In the workplace, the company has 775 employees and, through the Officine Novamont, delivered 875.5 hours of internal training to 234 participants. On diversity and inclusion, 2025 saw the creation of a voluntary internal working group and the launch of a survey focusing on employees' perceptions. On human rights, more than 200 suppliers took part in an assessment programme through the Open-es platform.

Impact stories: from soil to communities

The value of the Report lies not only in the numbers, but also in the stories that bring them to life. On the environmental front, in 2025 Novamont received Federchimica's Responsible Care Award for a tool that enables customers to calculate the carbon footprint of their Mater-Bi products across the entire supply chain, in accordance with the ISO 14067 standard.

Its commitment to the Re Soil Foundation continues. Established in 2020 with the University of Bologna, Coldiretti and the Polytechnic University of Turin to make soil health a topic of European policy, the foundation involved more than 3,000 students and 200 teachers in Italy in 2025 and organised the States General for Soil Health at Ecomondo. It is an initiative that extends beyond the environment in the strict sense, encompassing education and intergenerational responsibility.

On the stakeholder front, three initiatives illustrate the depth of the company's model. Its collaboration with the social cooperative Terra Felix, in Campania, involves Novamont in the enhancement of marginal land confiscated from organised crime through the development of dryland farming. In 2025, the partnership also gave rise to BioEconomia per l’inclusione (BioEconomy for inclusion), a programme launched at Carinola correctional facility to support the reintegration of inmates through innovative agricultural practices. The Caffè Sociale AUTentico, opened in Novara in 2025, combines a company space with a focus on people. Its furnishings were made by the Cooperativa Reverse in Verona, which operates at the Verona Montorio correctional facility, while day-to-day management is entrusted to the Cooperativa Gerico in Novara, which provides young people on the autism spectrum with a protected working environment. Finally, the Officine Novamont, the company's internal and external training platform, remain a tool that, when presented to an external audience, consistently stands out for its ability to turn the circular bioeconomy culture into a shared resource.

Through data and case studies, the 2025 Report paints a picture of a company that assesses its benefit strategy with the same care given to its financial statements, treating it as an exercise in reporting as well as communication.

Cover: photo by Envato