Support to the Circular Economy

In the 2022-2025 Business Plan, the Group made available to companies a plafond of €8 billion to support initiatives consistent with the green and circular criteria of the internal framework adopted. As of 31.12.2025, the volumes disbursed are higher than this plafond.

With a view to concretely supporting companies along the circular transition process, the Group offers customers of the Banca dei Territori, IMI Corporate & Investment Banking and International Banks Division (IBD) the opportunity to access financing dedicated to the circular economy, which may provide specific incentives. This opportunity is aimed at companies, both Italian and foreign, that adopt circular solutions in innovative ways, granting them the best conditions of access to credit.

In general, over the course of the 2022-2025 Business Plan, numerous company projects were supported for initiatives such as the replacement of critical raw materials and from fossil sources with others from recycled or biological sources, the reuse of urban organic waste for the production of biomethane and compost and the recovery of CO2, the revamping of renewable energy plants with extension of useful life and increase in production capacity,  the recovery of industrial production waste for reuse in new product lines.

In the area of sustainable bonds, Intesa Sanpaolo was the first Italian bank to issue a €750 million Green Bond in 2019 focused on the circular economy and intended to support the loans granted by the Bank as part of the dedicated credit offer.

Finally, the Group's commitment to supporting the circular economy also continued within the Wealth Management Division. Eurizon Capital SGR is positioned as a leader in the circular transition, continuing the implementation of its strategy both in Italy, in collaboration with the Group's Private Banking division, and abroad. Eurizon promotes knowledge of the circular economy in the world of investments also with the creation and dissemination of digital training supports.

In addition to the financial area, the Group also implements its strategy for the circular economy through specialist support for innovation initiatives and projects that promote the transition of companies. In this context, the Circular Economy Lab, a multi-stakeholder innovation initiative established in 2018 in Milan thanks to the collaboration between Intesa Sanpaolo, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Fondazione Cariplo and Cariplo Factory, plays a central role. It offers non-financial services to support innovation, with the aim of supporting and accompanying the transformation of the Italian economic system and disseminating new models of value creation in the collective interest, accelerating the transition to the circular economy.

The activity of the Circular Economy Lab, which during the year dealt with issues of increasing the circularity of products and materials, is developed along three lines:

• training activities, through paths to disseminate the culture of circular economy aimed at companies and the academic world, through dedicated workshops and lectures. During 2025, 14 lectures were held for both national and international universities or specialized courses;
• connection activities, through initiatives aimed at creating an open dialogue on the subject, involving a vast national and international network of companies, institutions, universities, research centers and other partners. During 2025, the following were carried out:
  • 9 Circular Economy dissemination events on specific sectors, 4 of which within the "ESG Laboratories" of the Group's BdT Division;
  • the conference "Circular Economy: future-proof economic paradigm", which was organized in June 2025, on the occasion of the renewal of the partnership with Cariplo Factory. The event brought together institutions, businesses and academia with the aim of promoting the dissemination of circular economy practices and innovative and sustainable solutions, stimulating the adoption of circular models. On that occasion, the "Report on Circular Innovation in Italian Startups" was presented, in which the Circular Economy Lab systematically analyzed the Italian circular economy ecosystem through innovative startups and SMEs, based on the Open Innovation activities launched in the area since 2018. Starting from a proprietary repository of circular innovation solutions, the study surveyed over 820 businesses to identify where and how the ability to innovate through "circular-by-design" models is concentrated.
• innovation activities, through innovative consulting services aimed at accelerating the transformation path of SMEs and Corporates towards circular business models. 

With the aim of contributing to the spread and consolidation of the circular economy, the Group continued its advocacy activities on the subject at international and national level in 2025.

• Among the international initiatives: the collaboration with the United Nations Environment and Finance Programme (UNEP FI) aimed at promoting the best practices of circular economy in the global banking sector.
• In 2025, the Group's participation in the task force coordinated by UNEP FI and called "Circular Economy as an enabler to operationalize the nexus between climate, nature, pollution and healthy & inclusive economies" continued. The initiative aims to guide the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) from a circular economy perspective, recognizing how the latter can represent the strategic lever for the financial sector to achieve the Circular Economy Finance. During the year, the Group also took part, through the Circular Economy Community of Practice of UNEP FI, in the "Policy Imperative and Financial Pathways to Scale Circular Economy Finance" working group,  aimed at strengthening the role of financial institutions in financing circular economy.
• Collaboration continued with UNEP FI and the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (GACERE) for the drafting of the document "Unlocking Circular Economy Financing – From Vision to Action", aimed at identifying shared solutions to capital shortages and promoting a more effective and inclusive financial ecosystem to support the transition to a circular economy.
• At the same time, the collaboration of Intesa Sanpaolo and ISPIC with the International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group) also continued, which in May led to the publication of the "Harmonized Circular Economy Finance Guidelines".
• In 2025, the Group confirmed its commitment to the European and international institutional dialogue on circular finance, participating in the public consultation promoted by the European Banking Federation (EBF) in view of the future Circular Economy Act of the European Commission, scheduled for 2026, and organizing – in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – a meeting at the European Commission in Brussels to reinforce the message of the centrality of the circular economy in the Union's strategy.

National initiatives

• Among the initiatives of national importance, with the Circular Economy Lab in its new role as coordinator of the Italian Alliance for the Circular Economy, activities aimed at strengthening the role and positioning of the Alliance were developed during the year, such as the development of thematic webinars, interactive workshops and the launch of a Call4Solutions dedicated to identifying and supporting circular innovation projects.
• As for the "Valore Acqua Community", promoted by The European House Ambrosetti, in the 2024/2025 edition it aimed to deepen the contribution of the various sectors of the extended water supply chain to the transition from a linear to a circular development model. In 2025, the Group continued to experiment with innovative and circular ICT asset management models, with the aim of promoting the responsible reuse of resources and the efficiency of internal processes.
• During the year, the fifth, sixth and seventh pilot projects dedicated to the enhancement of decommissioned IT assets were completed, through initiatives for the reconditioning, reuse and sale of equipment no longer in use. Overall, the sale involved over 6,500 IT assets (including fixed and laptop PCs, tablets and monitors), generating a value of approximately 120,000 euro.

On the research area, in 2025 the Group's collaboration with Bocconi University in the topic of Circular Economy & Finance continued, with the involvement of the university's independent GREEN research center in order to deepen the relationship between circular economy and sustainability, improve the metric for measuring the degree of circularity of companies (called Circularity Score - CS) and evaluate the opportunities offered to the financial sector by the transformation of economic sectors, starting, for example, from the theory of de-risking financial portfolios.

A further research activity was the collaboration of ISPIC, through the Circular Economy Lab, with the Energy & Strategy Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano for the development of the "Annual Report on the State of the Circular Economy in Italy", published in November 2025.

In the same area of research and dissemination, in 2025 the collaboration with the Italian Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ICESP)  continued with the aim of disseminating and enhancing good practices in the circular economy and contributing to the national debate on transition policies.

During 2025, the Circular Economy Lab contributed to the creation of the Report "Towards the Circular Blue Economy" published by the Centro Studi per il Mezzogiorno (SRM), connected to Intesa Sanpaolo and specialized in the analysis of the dynamics related to the maritime transport, logistics and energy sectors in the Mediterranean basin.