Business Law and Shifting Paradigms. Global Challenges and New Strategies Towards Sustainable Businesses

This volume gathers contributions from the Padova–Lausanne Joint Seminar, which took place on 3rd and 4th October 2024 in Palazzo del Bo, Università degli Studi di Padova. The theme of the conference, «Business Law and Shifting Paradigms: Global Challenges and New Strategies Towards Sustainable Businesses», relates to one of the “hottest” topics in business law, i.e. the relationship between business and society. This topic has expanded in recent years to include environmental, social and governance(ESG) concerns. The interaction between business law and ESG concerns has received broader attention on the international level since the adoption, in 2011, of both the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. These texts were followed by various pieces of national legislation, in France, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and, more recently, in the European Union: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) was adopted in 20221, followed, in 2024, by the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Following the adoption of these regulations, not only large companies, but also many SMEs need to be well-versed in integrating international hard and soft law standards as part of their policies and field operations. This implies that lawyers advising different industries and sectors also need to incorporate a comprehensive approach that transcends traditional corporate law issues from a transnational perspective. The effect of sustainability on business law extends to every level of a business’s activity and in its interaction with various stakeholders, including insolvency law, shareholder activism, stakeholder interests, competition law, environmental law, and financial market law. In each of these areas sustainability concerns now play a central role and are likely to affect the operations of a business in various ways.