Green logos, ethical labels, climate neutrality claims: in a market increasingly focused on sustainability, standards and certifications have become the tool with which companies demonstrate – or promise – their environmental and social commitment. But how reliable are these tools really? And how are they changing in light of the new European regulatory framework?

Next Monday's meeting will focus on the relationship between voluntary standards, sustainability certifications and European Union law, with particular attention to the new Directive (EU) 2024/825, which directly addresses sustainability labels. Among other things, the directive requires certification systems to meet stringent requirements so that they do not become mere unfair commercial practices: transparency of rules, scientific basis for actions declared as “sustainable”, continuous and independent monitoring by third-party bodies, measurement and verifiability of results.

At the opening, Laura Valle, associate professor of private law at the Faculty of Economics, will introduce the topic by framing the role that standards and certifications play as a complement to positive law: tools capable of supporting – and sometimes anticipating – legislative regulation, thanks in part to their potential global effectiveness, which transcends the territorial boundaries of national law.

This will be followed by two presentations on the technical dimension and the development of standards. Matteo Podrecca (University of Padua) will discuss quality management practices and the functioning of certifications currently on the market. Virpi Stucki, head of the Division for Fair Production, Sustainability Standards and Trade at UNIDO (Vienna), will analyse how certification standards are developed and adapted to sustainability content, with a focus on the areas of business and human rights and environmental resources.

The second part of the afternoon will focus on the economic and legal implications of the new regulatory landscape. Silvia Marci (University of Cagliari) will address the critical issues in measuring ESG objectives in light of the CSRD, the European Sustainability Reporting Directive. Daniele Pernigotti, president of CEN/TC 467 Climate Change and CEO of Aequilibria s.r.l., will illustrate the ongoing revision of certification standards and the issues still open in terms of transparency.

After a short break, the workshop will look at sector-specific cases and their impact on corporate performance. Fabiana Di Lorenzo, Senior Director of Impact and Innovation at the Responsible Business Alliance, will talk about the adaptation of standards to sustainability objectives in the minerals sector, which is strategic for many industrial supply chains. Next, Guido Orzes and Margherita Molinaro (Free University of Bolzano) will present empirical evidence on the relationship between sustainability standards and business performance, with particular reference to ISO 45001 and B-Corps.

The day will end with a round table discussion bringing together academics, businesses and institutions. Speakers will include Maria Chiara Marullo (Universitat Jaume I, Spain), Philip Frankl (Alpitronic), Nunzia Zecchillo (PhD student in Sustainable Energy and Technology, unibz) and Luca Filippi (Deputy Secretary General of the Bolzano Chamber of Commerce).

The overall objective of the workshop is to outline the way forward to make standards and certifications truly credible tools: capable of guiding businesses in organising their activities according to sustainability objectives and, at the same time, offering consumers, competitors and institutions clear, verifiable and non-misleading signals. This is a process that requires the joint contribution of public and private organisations, the scientific community and market operators, who are called upon to work together to provide society with reliable assessment tools that are up to the new environmental and social challenges.

The initiative is part of the research project ‘Contracts, Standards and Certifications for Sustainability, SUSTCOTECHCERT’, coordinated by Prof. Laura Valle and Prof. Guido Orzes.