Sustainability standard setting as local government matter: an Italian Experience

The concept of sustainability has been widely debated in organizational and managerial studies (Elkington, 1997). Sustainability seems to be able to capture the complexity of the impacts generated by the different... [ view full abstract ]

The concept of sustainability has been widely debated in organizational and managerial studies (Elkington, 1997).
Sustainability seems to be able to capture the complexity of the impacts generated by the different organizational activities, overcoming the limitations of the traditional accounting-based reports. Sustainability standards and guidelines have been specifically designed for being applied globally by all possible organizations. So, standard setters are normally global players, multi-stakeholder organizations developing highly inclusive procedures to prepare sound guidelines and standards to be applied globally. Literature also claims that sustainability is a public administration matter (Fiorino, 2010) and it shows that local governments (LG) are engaged in sustainability strategies development (Kusakabe, 2013), in measuring urban sustainability performance (Braulio-Gonzalo et al., 2015), in building capacity to implement sustainability practices (Wang et al, 2012) and in setting accountable sustainability reporting system (Mussari & Monfardini, 2010).
In such scenario, can a LG be an innovative standard setter? What are the aims of being a standard setter for sustainability at local and territorially limited level? Can a local definition of sustainability better fit with the values and the needs of a specific context? Can a local definition of sustainability be easier to implement for small and medium enterprises?
This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the case of an Italian LG already acting as standard setter of a sustainability certification for organizations operating in its territory. Interviews have been addressed to politicians in the LG to understand the reasons for the initiative, to managers to acknowledge the features of drafting process and the differences of the local standard with existing global ones; already certified organizations have been asked reasons and advantages for adopting the standard. The case shows that the pursue of sustainability became a public policy for the LG which is trying to keep consensus making “local” a global and unquestionable trend. This creates the space for a new role of standard setter for the LGs and potentially makes easier for small corporations in the area to achieve the certification and pursue sustainability.

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