EU climate change laws and private autonomy in the philanthropic landscape of Foundations of banking origins

• In Event: United Nations SDGs and the Third Sector

Abstract

In light of the EU regulatory environment aimed at guaranteeing -across all sectors of economy - the achievement of the common objectives set by the European Green Deal in accordance with the Paris Agreement and the UN’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the paper explores the changes affecting the relationship between the law and the private autonomy of foundations, with specific regard to Foundations of banking origin (FOBs). Preliminarily, the work examines the EU legislative evolution supporting the climate transition, up to the new EU sustainable finance framework channeling private finance into relevant economic activities. At national level, this evolution has influenced recent amendments to the Italian Constitution, which included the environmental protection, also in the interest of future generations, amongst the limits of private economic freedom (art. 41 Const.). Along with the legislative developments, the paper highlights the rising role of FOBs in advancing the SDGs, with a remarkable growth of interventions (both in terms of grants and mission-related investments) tackling the climate change and environmental challenges over recent years. From a private-law perspective, the paper analyses the potential impact of the EU corporate sustainability reporting standards on FOBs’ autonomy, a value constitutionally guaranteed by the horizontal subsidiarity principle (art. 118, para. 4., Const.). Indeed, the paper argues that the EU sustainability regime might determine a shift from a voluntary alignment of the FOBs’ mission and strategic activities with the UN 2030 Agenda – as the ESG dimensions of sustainability are embedded in the FOBs’ 2012 Charter -, to mandatory regulation tying the core essence of strategic philanthropy, namely freedom to experiment.

References

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. (2019). Philanthropy and the SDGs: Practical tools for alignment. https://www.sdgphilanthropy.org/system/ files/2019-05/Philanthropy%20and%20the%20SDGs_ Practical%20Tools%20for%20Alignment.pdf

Candid. (2020). See how foundations are supporting the Sustainable Development Goals. https://sdgfunders. org/home

ACRI (2023), XXVIII Rapporto sulle fondazioni di origine bancaria

Pastori-Zagrebelsky (a cura di), Fondazioni bancarie: una grande riforma da consolidare, Bologna, 2011.

OECD (2023), Private philanthropy for sustainable development, 2018-20: Data and analysis, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Author

• Raffaella Rametta, University of Teramo