Current Issues on the Transition to a Sustainable Economy in the European, Italian and Middle East Framework: Green Bonds Standards and Greenwashing

Abstract

The Italian Constitutional amendments (artt.9 and 41) represent an implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda in the European framework. The package of measures adopted by the EU in this context, outlines the importance of sustainable finance strategy, aimed at financing the transition towards a sustainable economy. A tool to enable the pursuit of this transition is Green Bond. The EU Commission launched a taxonomy proposal aimed at creating Green Bonds quality standards and certifications, because the existing industry standards are still based on definitions of green projects that are not sufficiently uniform, rigorous or comprehensive. The adoption of uniform universal standards for the definition of green projects could also contribute to stop “greenwashing”(the practice of falsely attributing green qualities to an investment which in reality does not possess them). For example a recent Italian decision (Alcantara vs Miko) stated that the rules for communication on sustainability are different from those on traditional advertising because sustainability should be real and not a façade. This study examines the possibility of a uniform adoption of standards at EU level and compares the European Green Bond standards with other similar initiatives, such as the Shari’ah-compliant Green Sukuk. Italian Constitution, UN Sustainable Development, ESG Principles, Sustainable Finance, Green Bond, EU Taxonomy Regulation, Green Bond Standards, Greenwashing, Shari’ah, Green Sukuk