Toronto, 11th May, 2018
"The creation of Smart Cities, which reduce environmental impacts in concrete and measurable terms, is now an obligatory choice. Sustainability - in its triple economic, social, and environmental dimension - must be a flywheel for the development of urban areas, where half of the world's population now lives, producing more than 70% of global emissions and consuming 80% of all energy produced."
This is what Gioia Ghezzi, President of FS Italiane, iterated during her speech at the Women's Forum in Toronto (10th and 11thMay), heading the FS Italiane Group delegation, which, with its policies, influences strategic areas of development in terms of liveability, environmental sustainability, safety, and social stability.
Economic sustainability
Railway stations are key to the transformation of cities into Smart Cities: hubs that, as a matter of fact, are becoming aggregation points where people go shopping, meet, or use integrated transport services. Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) has launched a programme to improve accessibility, security, and information systems to the public (audio and video) in 620 stations over a period of ten years and with a total economic investment of about 2.5 billion.
Another fundamental tool for improving the sustainability of cities is modal integration. As demonstrated by a study published last year by The European House - Ambrosetti, in collaboration with FS Italiane, modal integration allows Italy to save Euro 12 billion per year (almost one percentage point of its GDP). This is the economic significance and impact of a reorganisation of mobility in 14 Italian metropolitan cities in terms of reduction of time, traffic, and improvement of environmental and safety standards.
Social sustainability
Stations have become a place of solidarity and guarantee greater security. Help Centers have been created in the main stations, which complete around 500,000 operations per year. It is a model of intervention taken as an example from other European railway networks, such as France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
Environmental sustainability
FS Italiane is putting in place concrete actions to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, involving all aspects of its mobility operations, namely people and goods, in Italy and in Europe. This includes actions such as its adhesion to the ANAS Group, joining the UN Global Compact network, and issuing a €600 million Green Bond to finance new trains for both regional and high speed transport.
The delegation, comprised of Claudia Cattani, President of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI); and for FS Italiane, Barbara Morgante, Director of Central Governance and Foreign Participation; Elisabetta Scosceria, Director General Counsel, Corporate Affairs and Compliance; Carlotta Ventura, Central Director of Brand Strategy and Communications, will discuss issues related to the development of women's leadership and inclusive growth, determining factors for economic development, and social stability.
Key topics discussed during the many sessions of the Women's Forum will be gathered and later addressed in the G7 Summit agenda scheduled for 8th and 9th June in Charlevoix, Quebec, and aid in immediately putting in place coherent and inclusive gender policies.