In the current historical context, we are witnessing an increasingly intense process of corporate responsibility, which are no longer required only to maximize profits and reduce costs, but also to positively influence the social context in which they operate by becoming real “guarantors” of some general values and interests.
On an operational level, we witness the integration of sustainability into corporate strategies and objectives. At the application level, the main tools to operate in this sense are indisputably governance and compliance.
Governance as it leads the business activity towards choices consistent with sustainability objectives and compatible with a risk profile identified considering also all possible impacts related to ESG factors (Environmental, Social, Governance). Compliance as it defines the organizational precautions functional to risk management integrated with sustainability.
Please note that in 2018 the European Commission promoted an Action Plan on sustainable finance and that in 2019 the first point of the European Agenda 2019 – 2024 was the “European Green Deal”.
ESG indicators and Legislative Decree 231/2001
The discipline referred to in the Legislative Decree 231/2001 was certainly the first legislation that obligated companies to self-regulation through the implementation of tools whose main objective was to contain the risk of committing certain crimes within the corporate organization.
The adoption of Model 231 was the first practical tool with which corporate action was regulated through the designation of behaviors to be respected, consistent with best practices, in order to implement the culture of legality.
Over time the expansion of the list of the so-called predicate offenses has brought 231 issues pertaining to environmental protection (environmental assets referred to in Article 25-undecies) and social rights (workers’ rights referred to in Article 25-septies), thus introducing issues of sustainability within the corporate management systems.
The pursuit of ESG policies and their monitoring cannot disregard the compliance with specific regulations and practices already operative in some areas of the company. For example, ESG compliance assumes the implementation of other forms of compliance, such as for example 231, anti-money laundering, tax, antitrust and anti-corruption.
The current objective, therefore, should be to incorporate all those actions – often already adopted by companies- with ESG objectives within the construction of a corporate organization aimed at achieving its goals and fulfill risk prevention.
Referring to environmental issues, the risks-crimes associated with pollution in its various forms are governed by Legislative Decree no. 231/2001 and the Model 231 must provide for a number of procedures that organizations should implement to eliminate them or at least reduce their probability of occurrence to the minimum.
The provisions dictated by Model 231 help the improvement of the environmental impact of organizations on the planet and greatly facilitate the achievement of sustainable development objectives.
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Antonio Bana, environmental criminal law attorney, partner Studio Legale Bana
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