Charenton-le-Pont, France (June 10, 2024) – EssilorLuxottica implements an innovative project near Pescara, Italy which oversees the recovery and reconversion of industrial land surrounding the site of Barberini, a world-class optical glass lens manufacturer and part of EssilorLuxottica. Covering almost 40 hectares, EssilorLuxottica will create a large solar farm to produce renewable energy along with a green area hosting sports facilities and natural food crops for the corporate staff restaurants, with a sustainable and circular approach.

Covering an area of 25 hectares, the solar farm will be the first large-scale ground-mounted photovoltaic system built and directly managed by EssilorLuxottica and will have a total power of 20MW. The plant is expected to generate approximately 30,000 MWh of renewal energy per year (equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 10,000 families) and will be connected directly to Barberini’s industrial site to maximize self-consumption of onsite renewable power production.

The new solar farm, together with the photovoltaic panels which are already installed on the roofs of Barberini’s buildings and on most of the Company’s plants throughout the world, is a testament to the Group's commitment to increase the production of renewable energy and confirms the ongoing investments to improve the efficiency across its logistic and manufacturing facilities and to reduce energy and water consumption.

The project is being implemented in coordination with local institutions and is part of the Company’s journey since 2019, following the completion of the acquisition of Barberini. The Group’s investments have made it possible to create a modern production area in Città Sant'Angelo which, in addition to hosting a new building with LEED certification for eco-compatibility, no longer uses fossil fuels and hosts the cultivation of native species such as olive trees, Abruzzo’s pear tomatoes, and melliferous plants in the areas close to the production sites. The Group works with local firm Tenuta Fragassi to introduce natural food production from this plant together with the ones from the new crops around the solar farm in its corporate staff restaurants. This in turn supports EssilorLuxottica’s Eyes on Food program launched in 2022 with Italian chef Davide Oldani to promote a healthy and responsible eating in the workplace.

Additionally, the area near the photovoltaic plant will also be open to the community and feature educational aspects of circularity and ecology initiatives along with seasonal crops, gardens and beekeeping. The site is expected to be completed in early 2025.

“We are continuing to realize EssilorLuxottica’s vision to produce extraordinary results in the market alongside major sustainability initiatives and investments to ensure an ethical and responsible approach. Today, we mark another key step to keep improving our energy efficiency globally while supporting our goal to become carbon neutral in our direct operations around the world by next year, as outlined in our Eyes on the Planet corporate sustainability program”, said Francesco Milleri, Chairman and CEO of EssilorLuxottica.

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A new sustainable approach for EssilorLuxottica’s operations in Italy

40 hectares of industrial land surrounding Barberini’s plant in Abruzzo, a region in central Italy, is being recovered and reconverted to host a solar farm and natural food crops to be used in the corporate staff restaurants