Sostenibilità ambientale, autonomia privata e private regulation

This paper investigates what are the repercussions on private autonomy of the European Union's environmental policies, exploring the possibility of environmental sustainability as a horizontal standard applicable to corporate contractual relationships. In more detail, it is to be examined whether the principle of sustainable development constitutes an internal limit on private autonomy and, on the other hand, on private self-regulation, particularly in the light of Article 25 of the proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. Ascertained that the imposition of any measures restricting the freedom of contract for the purpose of environmental preservation must have a legislative basis and, in other respects, that the breach of a general clause – such as the sustainable development one – can never entail the voidness of the contract, the paper focuses on the role of private self-regulation within environmental governance. Improving corporate accountability and responsibility is a key tool for overcoming a disclosure-based model and shaping corporate governance, in the interest of stakeholders as well.