Le incerte vie della sostenibilità. Aziende di servizi pubblici e cittadini per l'ambiente

[Autom. eng. transl.] Are complex organizations able to respond effectively and shared to the challenges of environmental sustainability? In what terms is an ecological transformation of the current models of production and consumption of electricity, water and environmental services taking place? This study aims to verify some possible answers to these questions, through an empirical research on some key actors for the construction of present and future sustainability strategies: on the one hand the companies providing local public services (multiutility), on the other citizens-consumers and the realities of organized civil society (associations, groups, networks). Starting from a case study on the a2a Group, the sustainability strategies adopted by the largest ex-municipal service company in Italy and energy and water consumption practices, as well as waste management, are examined. users-consumers of the services of the same Company. The indications that emerge from the survey show that the transformation in an ecological sense of the models of production and consumption of services is manifesting itself through various paths of sustainability, also deeply differentiated among them. Overcoming traditional patterns of action and interaction, the emergence of new forms of interdependence between producers and consumers, as well as the multiplication of green options in terms of lifestyles and technological opportunities, offer elements to reflect on the weight of social factors and cultural in the construction of innovative scenarios and sustainability practices. Similarly, these transformation lines renew the question about the possibility of integrating divergent logic of environmental action into a common and shared strategy for a sustainable future.