Digitalisation and Sustainability: challenges for future corporate governance (Norme & Tributi Plus Diritto – Il Sole 24 Ore, 25 October 2021 – Alberto De Luca, Martina De Angeli)

Digitalisation and sustainability are two issues at the heart of the debate about the challenges companies will face soon. To date, the term “digitalisation” (or “digital transformation”) still commonly refers introducing digital technologies into the workplace and applying them to the tools available to personnel to perform work. The evolution of technologies and processes increasingly identifies the concept of digitalisation with a fundamental cultural, methodological and managerial transformation of the way work is carried out. Technology and digital transformation are the primary tools for improving the efficiency of companies to optimise, simplify and accelerate processes and relations with stakeholders. Alongside these challenges, a second objective that companies must pursue, and which will influence business strategies and governance choices, is related to the concepts of “sustainability” and “sustainable development.” Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), refers to environmental, social and corporate governance issues on which businesses must focus. In addition to environmental sustainability (“E-factor”), ESG comprises the inclusion and integration of human resources, including human rights (“S-factor”) protection, such as employee relations, remuneration systems and how the company’s organisational structure is conducted (“G-factor”). Alongside the environment, having fair and sustainability-oriented management of resources is vital.

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