The Role of Private Regulation in Promoting Sustainability: The Case of Viticultural Industry

Where: Zoom Platform
Time: 2 p.m.

Please contact school.socialsciences [at] unitn.it for the link to the Zoom event.

Speaker

• Matteo Ferrari, University of Trento

Abstract

The presentation analyzes the contribution that some types of private regulation, meant as a body of rules that are bottom-up, flexible and that concern a limited group of subjects, can have in promoting sustainability. Private regulation is present in many realms and can take different forms, ranging from private standards to codes of conduct, from groups’ internal rules to third-party guidelines. While in theory private regulation has a non-binding nature, in practice it has gained prominence and it is widely employed across different sectors. Sustainability represents no exception: private norms represent an almost inescapable benchmark for those market players who want to implement sustainable ways of production. By using examples from the wine sector, the analysis shows how regulation created by private subjects and third-party certification schemes can integrate public regulation, highlighting the relation between sustainability and market.