Agro-energies and sustainable development: an economic and legal analysis

Abstract

Today, “sustainable development" and "renewable energy" are keywords in the international debate, which has the aim to support a wide improvement of living conditions and to ensure equal access to the available resources. In the recent years, the sustainability issue has gradually become more important, thanks to the support of a new economic and social environment that has encouraged its growth. Therefore, the research has focused on the relationship between agro-energy and sustainability. In order to analyze this further, we must reflect on the meaning of sustainable development. The work started with the analysis of the concept, how it was born, its evolution and the response of the European legislation. Today, it is recognized that the sustainable development is directly linked to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. From a legal point of view, the interweaving of the market rules and liability rules has made necessary to deepen the relationship between CSR and Soft law, in order to determine whether the social and the legal responsibility may be considered as separate or complementary issues. In the second section, the focus shifts to the agro-energy sector, describing the types, the issues linked to them and the future prospects of a fast growing sector. Finally, the third section of the study aims to be the "synthesis" of the first two, as it puts together the concepts analyzed in the previous parts and it attempts to explain the relationship between agro-energies and sustainable development and who are the subjects responsible for them, by what means and in which ways.