100% of Cosea Ambiente goes to the Hera Group
The multi-utility has consolidated its leadership in the waste management area by acquiring the entire shareholding of the company operating in waste management, owned by 20 Municipalities in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine area.
The Hera Group has been definitively awarded the tender for purchasing 100% of the shares of Cosea Ambiente S.p.A., a company managing urban and similar waste services owned by 20 Municipalities in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine area (15 in the province of Bologna, already Hera Group shareholders, and 5 in the province of Pistoia). The documents involved were signed today, 9 May 2019.
The tender was accompanied by a ten-year concession for the Cosea Consorzio's Ca' dei Ladri landfill, in the Municipality of Gaggio Montano, also covering assets and resources involved in its operation. The concession, also dated today, was stipulated between Herambiente and Cosea Consorzio. The 18 Municipalities owning Cosea Consorzio are also shareholders in Cosea Ambiente, even while holding different percentages in the two companies, with the exception of two Municipalities with no shareholding.
Thanks to this acquisition, the Hera Group will be able to manage its waste management services in an increasingly synergic way across the entire Province of Bologna. These services will be integrated with the others already offered in the Apennine area (mainly water and gas), guaranteeing at the same time that the personnel currently employed is maintained. As for the Municipalities previously served by Cosea Ambiente, they will benefit from the scale economies ensuing from an advanced industrial approach in service management and fully meet the goals set by the regional law on recycling and recovery. Further benefits will also come from the multi-utility's many infrastructures, which already guarantee a high level of environmental performance in the areas served by Hera (selection, disposal and biomethane production plants, etc.). Additionally, the Hera Group will invest in currently existing infrastructures and activities over the next few months.
This operation is to be counted alongside the acquisitions made in previous years of Treviso's Aliplast and Geo Nova and Tuscany's Waste Recycling and Teseco, finding its place along the Hera Group's path of growth and the consequent enlargement of its scope of operations, as pursued for a number of years. It furthermore allows the multi-utility to consolidate to a greater degree its national leadership in the waste management sector, in which it serves 3.3 million citizens in over 170 Municipalities and manages all types of waste, thanks to roughly 90 plants that bring together efficiency, competitiveness in costs and the sustainability dictated by the principles of a circular economy.
"This transaction represents another milestone in the ongoing enlargement of our activities in waste management, with the aim of optimising resources and processes, extracting synergies and creating value for the areas served and for all our stakeholders", comments Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, Executive Chairman of the Hera Group. "All of this allows us to offer quality services and increasingly integrated solutions to citizens and industrial customers, bringing reliability together with sustainability in the collection and treatment of any type of waste."
Romano Franchi, Chairman of Consorzio Cosea's Shareholders Meeting, has stated that "All shareholder municipalities have resolved in favour of this operation. There are a number of reasons for this: it allows us to safeguard the system's economic sustainability and to guarantee employment through a local presence, while at the same time reaching regulatory aims. We are leaving Hera a healthy system, confident that the Group will be able to further improve it."
The multi-utility tops the ranking, marking its sixth consecutive year on the podium, the only Italian company to achieve this result. The recognition rewards the credibility and consistency with which the Group integrates ESG factors into its strategy, governance and corporate culture.
Hera Group ranked first in the 2026 ESG Identity Corporate Index, developed by ET.Group to measure the extent to which ESG factors are integrated into companies’ strategies and decision-making processes. The results of the eleventh edition were presented today in Milan at the ESG Business Conference.
The Group’s growth, together with the progressive evolution and increasing maturity of its ESG model, has gone hand in hand with continuous advances in governance, enabling the multi-utility to rank among the Top 10 for 9 consecutive years and on the podium for six years in a row.
A more selective assessment focused on ESG credibilityThe recognition is even more significant as it is the outcome of a rigorous assessment process carried out against a benchmark that continues to rise. The 2026 edition included a record 109 companies, all demonstrating increasingly advanced levels of ESG maturity.
The assessment itself has also become more demanding, shifting the focus from disclosure alone to companies’ ability to demonstrate the effective integration of ESG factors into strategy, decision-making processes and corporate culture. The analysis centres on the development of a robust and coherent ESG strategy geared towards value creation, transparent reporting of results, and the ability to anticipate and manage risks.
For Hera Group, particular emphasis was placed on:
- governance as an enabler, supported by the active involvement of dedicated governance bodies;
- the integration of ESG targets into remuneration policies and long-term strategies;
- the ability to foster a cross-functional ESG culture involving all business functions and the entire value chain.
Hera Group builds its ESG narrative on its strategy, its commitments and its ability to translate them into tangible results. Over more than twenty years, the multi-utility has combined sustained economic growth with the evolution of its governance towards increasingly demanding targets, clear accountability and measurable performance. The credibility of the Group’s commitments rests on a consistent track record of delivery, as demonstrated by significant investments, completed projects and reported impacts. The same rigour underpins investment in people development through skills, inclusion and professional growth, as well as incentive systems that embed sustainability targets.
For Hera Group, ESG is therefore the practical framework through which the company governs, grows and creates value over time.
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