SOCIETÀ ITALIANA DI DIRITTO ED ECONOMIA
Gianluigi Delle Cave (University of Brescia)
Abstract
The “Green Deal” is a driving strategy of a new economic policy agenda that is emerging in various parts of the world, including Europe. In this regard, please consider that the European Green Deal is a strategy to combat climate change launched by the EU in December 2019. The act outlining its essential lines is, in fact, a Communication from the Commission, a policy document, entitled the European Green Deal COM(2019)640. The strategy, of course, does not end with the communication above, but runs through a considerable variety of measures: European sectoral strategies (see those on biodiversity, food safety and industrial policy), action plans for the circular economy and proposals in strategic sectors such as energy and fuels, transport and land use in the so called “Fit for 55%” package. The affirmation of the Green Deal approach reinforces the role of public powers (supranational, national and subnational) in their relations with individuals and economic and industrial operators, foreseeing and facilitating the adoption of measures to promote, incentivise and shape the choices of private subjects themselves. The public authorities, therefore, also based on the new principles just mentioned, adopt policies aimed at directing economic actors towards a plurality of combined objectives, conditioning their operational choices and determining their investments and business strategies. Because of these interconnections and relationships, a fundamental part of the implementation of the Green Deal is entrusted to the public economic category of the “conforming State”, that is, as also mentioned above, a context in which public powers go beyond their activities of promotion, innovation, regulation and limitation, going so far as to “conform”, that is, to functionalise and determine the actions of private actors regarding strategic choices and investment sectors.
An example, although of particular interest and subject of investigation here, is the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).
The speech/paper proposed for the SIDE conference, therefore, will investigate not only the conforming force of the European Green Deal with respect to environmental protection in the sense of climate neutrality, but also the regulatory resistance of its application instruments, i.e. the CBAM, highlighting, beyond the regulatory data, also its benefits and critical profiles for European and national companies.