Shaping Sustainable Practices in Italy’s Construction Industry: An ESG Indicator Framework

The construction industry is one of the most environmentally sensitive sectors, significantly impacting the adoption of sustainable development practices. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) pillars are essential for assessing corporate sustainability performance, revealing risks, and guiding improvement. Despite the widespread use of indicators, a notable gap exists in ESG frameworks oriented to assess company performance within the sector, with limited research on achieving standard tools. This study proposes a practical standardized framework of indicators for the European construction industry and provides a set of KPIs for the Italian context, serving as a tool to measure and report ESG performance. The methodology consists of the selection of indicators from established protocols for assessing and reporting ESG criteria, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). The selection process resulted in the identification of 118 indicators, categorized into 44 environmental, 54 social, and 20 governance indicators, enabling construction companies to comprehensively measure and report their ESG performance in accordance with disclosure regulations. The result of this work serves policymakers seeking to develop standardized frameworks specific to the construction industry, for defining expert panels to evaluate mandatory disclosures from companies, and as guidance for companies who need guidelines to assess their sustainability performance and ensure compliance and alignment with existing frameworks.