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Matteo Di Castelnuovo

AI and energy: the hidden challenge of data centers

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence brings not only technological but also significant energy-related implications. According to the International Energy Agency, data centers – the physical backbone of AI – could consume up to 3% of global electricity by 2030, an amount comparable to the current demand of an entire industrialized country. Yet these digital hubs could also become enablers ...

Stefano Pogutz, Francesco Perrini, Jan Hans Georg Pachner, Rafael Sardà, Federico Fumagalli

Protecting the Ocean for a Sustainable Planet

The health of the ocean is in critical condition, and it is deteriorating at a rate and in ways scientists say are unprecedented in the history of our planet. Huge amounts of plastics and chemicals are dumped into the environment every year in all parts of the world. Overexploitation of fish stocks has pushed fisheries of several species beyond the threshold of sustainability, with serious implications ...

Daniele Dotto

Bringing Innovation to EU Public Administrations

The communication “Enhancing the European Administrative Space,” also known as “ComPAct,”[1] was adopted by the European Commission on October 25, 2023. It is innovative in that, for the first time, the Commission proposes a comprehensive set of actions in support of administrative modernization and cooperation in and between Member States at all levels (national, regional and local). The ...

Sylvie Goulard, Francesco Perrini, Stefano Pogutz

To Be or Not to Be: Sustainability Between Strategy, ESG, and Reporting

Driven by a series of institutional and political pressures—from Climate Conferences to the Green Deal, from Non-Financial Reporting and Sustainable Finance Directives to those on transparency and greenwashing—the debate on corporate sustainability has often become muddled and highly ideological in recent years. With over three decades of experience in sustainability management, and having observed ...

Sylvie Goulard, Francesco Perrini, Stefano Pogutz

Research, Sharing, and Impact to Address the Sustainability Challenge

Excellence in Sustainability and Governance - eSG Knowledge Platform is the name of the SDA Bocconi platform that brings together and coordinates all research activities on these increasingly urgent topics. Sustainability, understood in an integrated and cross-cutting way, is studied starting from global challenges on environmental, social, and governance issues that lead companies, international ...

Sylvie Goulard

Beyond illusions, within limits: business and the sustainability challenge

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, we have drawn on natural resources as if they were limitless. The air and water, the soil, the fish and the trees, all living things seemed at our disposal. Economic science has long suggested that wealth results from the combination of only two factors of production: capital and labor. As Jean-Baptiste Say wrote in 1803 in his book on Political Economy: ...

Andrea Beltratti, Alessia Bezzecchi

Transition Finance, Sustainability and AI

In recent years, major European banks have developed a list of sectors populated by companies with high CO2 emissions. The concept of "transition finance" is primarily about working with these companies to identify and achieve shared decarbonization goals, typically by 2030. However, as we know, in economics "everything is interconnected," so the list may not be exhaustive or entirely stable, requiring ...

Francesco Perrini

The sustainability pendulum: stakeholders set the course

Sustainability took several hits in 2025, though none delivered a knockout blow. Regulatory progress slowed in both the U.S. and Europe, and mounting political pressure might suggest a retreat. Yet the underlying trend remains intact. Stakeholder demand continues to exert powerful influence beyond regulation. Clients, employees, local communities, and the media still expect measurable, verifiable ...

Davide Reina

A disassembly line for the dustainable transition

Everyone knows that a circular economy is essential for reducing CO2 emissions. According to calculations by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, about 30 percent of all the decarbonization needed by 2050 to meet globally agreed targets depends on the circular economy. Few people, however, realize that the circular economy is also indispensable if we want to avoid running out of raw materials. The reason ...