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Global initiatives

AGENDA 2030
17 goals for sustainability
GREEN DEAL EUROPEO
 guide for corporate sustainability
CSRD
guidelines for corporate sustainability reporting
GLOBAL COMPACT
10 fundamental principles
ACTION PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE FINANCE

Agenda 2030

In 2015, UN member countries signed an action program for people, planet and prosperity, with the aim of achieving sustainable and inclusive development, respectful of the environment and people and which leaves no one behind.  

17 common Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set, divided into 169 specific targets to be achieved by 2030.

Everybody is called upon to contribute to the SDGs. Even, and above all, businesses, that must become aware of their ESG impacts and risks, in order to manage them properly with a view to continuous improvement.
Select the cards to see each goal

European Green Deal

In 2015, during the 21st Conference of the UNFCCC Parties, known as COP 21, the European Union signed the Paris Agreement to limit global warming and to manage the effects of climate change. In line with this commitment, EU countries adopted the Green Deal, a strategic plan to turn the Union into a climate-neutral society by 2050, where the economic growth is no longer based on the massive explotation of resources and where no person and no place are left behind. 
This plan represents the guiding document for corporate environmental sustainability.

AGRICULTURE

A healthy food system for people and the planet.

ENVIRONMENT AND OCEANS

Protecting our biodiversity and ecosystems.

CLIMATE

Becoming the first climate neutral continent by 2050.

ENERGY

A clean and efficient energy transition.

FINANCE AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable investments to deliver the European Green Deal.

INDUSTRY

A industrial strategy for a competitive, green, and digital Europe.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Its role in driving transformative change.

TRANSPORT

Providing efficient, safe and environmentally friendly transport.

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, CSRD

In 2022 the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) was adopted, with the purpose of: accelerating the process to achieve the Green Deal, the Global Compact and the 2030 Agenda targets; increasing the transparency and uniformity of sustainability reporting by companies operating in the European markets; improving the number of companies that publish sustainability reports and, therefore, that include ESG factors in their business strategies. 
Everybody is called upon to contribute to the SDGs. Even, and above all, businesses, that must become aware of their ESG impacts and risks, in order to manage them properly with a view to continuous improvement.

  • WHICH COMPANIES ARE INVOLVED?

    The CSRD takes up and integrates the contents of the previous NFRD (implemented in Italy through Legislative Decree no. 254/2016) and extends the obligation to draft, deposit and certify the sustainability report to a wider range of companies, including SMEs:

    2025: large public interest companies and/or groups with over 500 employees, already required to draft the NFS;

    2026: companies and/or groups with over 250 employees and/or €40 million in turnover and/or €20 million in assets;

    2027: SMEs and/or listed groups with over 11 employees and/or €700,000 in turnover and/or €350,000 in assets

    2029: Non-EU company with at least one subsidiary or branch in the EU and with a consolidated EU turnover exceeding €150 million

    The timeline refers to the drafting year, while the data to be reported relate to the previous two years.

  • WHICH ARE THE DIRECTIVE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES?
    • Double materiality (impact and financial): an ESG topic can be material due to its concrete effects or due to its financial implications;
    • Due diligence: companies must continuously identify their negative impacts and mitigate them through actions that boost an ongoing improvement of their performance;
    • Extended responsibility: companies are also responsible for their value chain.

    This last principle produces a “cascade effect” whereby companies subject to the reporting requirement have to collect ESG information from business partners along their value chain, namely suppliers, commercial partners and distributors. In this way the European Union ensures that all the companies will progressively commit to sustainability and make their ESG data available.

  • WHY IS IT IMPORTANT EVEN IF YOUR COMPANY IS NOT REQUIRED TO REPORT?

    Having a sustainability report is already a requirement to work with many companies that are subject to CSRD. Furthermore, communicating your ESG performance helps fulfilling the growing requests coming from the market, investors, credit and insurance institutions, as well as from P.A.

GLOBAL COMPACT, 
10 fundamental principles

In 1999 during the World Economic Forum, the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addressed the companies of the member countries, inviting them to share, support and apply 10 fundamental principles, with the aim of promoting a healthy global economy, free of corruption, respectful of the environment, human rights and labour. The following year, in New York, the Global Compact was born, which today has more than 20,000 member companies from 162 countries.

Human rights

Principle 1: support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights
Principle 2: make sure you are not complicit in human rights abuse, even indirectly

Work

Principle 3: uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
Principle 4: eliminate all forms of forced and compulsory labour
Principle 5: abolish child labour
Principle 6: eliminate all forms of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation

Environment

Principle 7: support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies

Corruption

Principle 10: work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery

 

ACTION PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE FINANCE

In 2018, the European Commission published the "Action Plan for Sustainable Finance", a document that outlined the strategy and measures to create a financial system able to promote and support the European sustainable development, in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda. 
 
The plan identifies 10 actions to be undertaken to:
  (i) direct capital flows towards a more sustainable economy;
(ii) consider sustainability in risk management procedures;
(iii) strengthen transparency and long-term vision.

Subjects operating in the capital, investment and insurance markets are called upon to align with the identified targets by integrating ESG factors into their activities.

A year later, in 2019, the SFRD Regulation for financial sustainability reporting was adopted, which affects financial market operators, companies that offer financial products and entities that are or could be the subject of sustainable investments.

The initiatives of sustainable finance directly affect companies, in terms of access to credit, financial and insurance conditions, investments attraction and participation in public tenders.