ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Anna Garbagna in Italy reports from a recent seminar discussing Transition 5.0.

A series of investments between 2024 and 2025 which would lead to real and documentable energy savings: this is what the new Transition 5.0 is asking for, as highlighted by Marco Belardi, consultant of the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE).

The digital and energy transition represents a central theme cleaning industry association Afidamp has been studying for some time to bring solutions and guide its members to make the best choices.
Belardi led the seminar ‘Transition 5.0: technical aspects, opportunities and problems in light of Legislative Decree 19/2024 of 2 March’, organised in Milan by the FINCO Federation to inform companies about the recent innovations introduced by Legislative Decree 19/2024, relating to the further provisions for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Belardi illustrated how companies that decide to invest in goods functional to the circular economy, sustainability and energy saving can access the incentives. Aiming to enhance and facilitate the development of projects in these areas, this operation focuses on three types of costs: investments in new material assets, aimed at the self-production of energy from renewable sources for
self-consumption, expenses for staff training and for “4.0” capital goods.

Transition 5.0 does not eliminate Transition 4.0, they are two distinctive regulations which however share some points.

Regarding the deadline for applying for incentives, Belardi stressed that timing is quite tight, since three quarters of this year has already passed and the deadline for 2025, for compensation, coincides with the deadline for filing tax returns, which is December 31 2025.

Hence the need and urgency to make investments that are correct and, above all, achievable in the short term.

During the seminar, which Afidamp proposed to its members, Belardi wanted to highlight with some concrete examples the feasibility and the procedure to get the incentives.

Compared to Transition 4.0, for instance, access to Transition 5.0 requires a sort of booking. All documents need to be sent to the Evaluation Commission - including the calculation of the expected incentive - so as to immediately get an idea of the total spending and possibly stop further requests if and when the total amount of incentives provided is reached. The expected incentives are €3.1 billions for 2024 and €3.1 billions for 2025 - further updates are under review. That is why the association has invited all members to look out for further news.

In order to take advantage of tax credits for investments in new capital goods and for investments in research and development activities, technological innovation, design and aesthetic creation, companies will be required to communicate in advance and electronically the total amount of investments they intend to make, the presumed distribution of the credit over the years and the relative use. This will help distribute correctly the resources for a unitary and fair development of the sector at a national level.