Private Profits and Collective Costs: The Miteni PFAS Disaster and Corporate Responsibility in the Veneto Region, Italy

This thesis examines the issue of corporate responsibility for environmental and occupational harm through the case of the PFAS disaster in the Veneto region of Italy, as a result of Miteni’s industrial activities. By adopting a business and human rights lens, the research analyses the relationship between industrial pollution and the protection of the human rights of people living and working in contaminated areas. Also, it addresses the issues of attribution of responsibility for the cleanup of the environment and compensation for victims. The thesis focuses on two landmark judgments by the Tribunal of Vicenza in 2025. The first recognised the criminal responsibility of former managers of Miteni for deliberate environmental disaster and water pollution. The second established a causal link between the death of a worker and his exposure to PFAS in the workplace, recognising the latter as the cause of his illness. By analysing these decisions, this work investigates how to address accountability for both environmental damages affecting local communities and the harm suffered by workers exposed to hazardous substances. The research question of this thesis concerns the distribution of the economic and social costs stemming from extensive industrial pollution. In particular, it asks who should pay the costs of cleaning up polluted areas when the level of contamination exceeds the financial and practical capacity of the responsible company, as well as who should compensate workers and local communities for the damages suffered. By focusing on the case of forever chemicals in the Veneto region, this thesis reflects on the tensions between private profit and collective environmental and social costs, while questioning the effectiveness of the existing legal mechanisms in terms of remediation, accountability and the protection of human rights.