The Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce is calling for nuclear energy — not as a distant option to be considered, but as an urgent component of the country’s energy strategy. The message comes from the 36th ‘Milano Produttiva’ report, presented on July 14, 2026 at Palazzo Giureconsulti, and concerns a region that single-handedly generates a significant share of Italy’s GDP.
The report’s figures are encouraging. In 2025, the economy of the Milan, Monza Brianza and Lodi provinces grew by 0.7%, a full percentage point above the national average of 0.5%. Services led the way at the same pace, while industry posted +0.4%. Employment rose by 1%, with unemployment rates at historic lows: 3% in Milan, 3.1% in Brianza, 2% in the Lodi area. The net balance of newly registered versus deregistered businesses reached 10,007 units — up from 8,428 in 2024 — with a growth rate of +2.1%, more than double the national average of +0.96%. Milan alone generated 9,179 net new businesses. Prometeia-based forecasts indicate that growth will hold steady at 0.7% through 2026 as well.
Yet energy costs remain a drag. «The issue of energy that is still too expensive remains unresolved», said Carlo Sangalli, president of the Chamber of Commerce, speaking plainly at the presentation. «That is why it is urgent to invest in renewable energy development and in nuclear power.» His was not a lone voice. Professor Roberto Cingolani, also present at the event, argued that tackling the energy problem means «having the courage to start talking about developing nuclear technologies for civilian use», adding that «energy autonomy will increasingly become a matter of national security» and that the right approach is «a mix of renewables and nuclear.» The second section of the report examines precisely this: the dynamics of Italy’s energy transition, the pace of renewable energy development, and specifically «the current state and future prospects of next-generation nuclear technology.»
The broader context makes the call more concrete than it might appear. The greater Milan area is home to 6,636 companies with foreign multinational ownership, employing more than 719,000 people and generating aggregate revenues of €408.2 billion. Nearly a third of these foreign-owned companies are concentrated in the province of Milan alone — 32.7% of the national total. Businesses of this scale and international reach cannot absorb uncertainty over energy costs. When Italy’s most productive region flags energy as a brake on competitiveness, that signal cannot be dismissed at the level of national industrial policy.
The fact that the Milan Chamber of Commerce has placed nuclear energy — alongside renewables — at the centre of an official economic report is significant well beyond local news. It signals that the issue is moving out of specialist conference rooms and into the language of organised business. If 2026 projections confirm continued growth, the next challenge is ensuring that growth is not stifled by insufficient or prohibitively expensive energy supply. In this context, next-generation nuclear is increasingly less an ideological talking point and more an economic variable that cannot be ignored.
