About the conference
The conference is inspired by the newly published volume Sustainable Value Creation in the European Union. The volume takes a research-based concept of sustainable development – or sustainability, as it is often referred to today – as its starting point, formulated as securing social foundations for humanity now and for the future while staying within planetary boundaries. The Treaty of the European Union as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007, gives an unprecedented and overarching legal basis for facilitating sustainability. For business, this can be formulated as creating value in a way that contributes to sustainability, or for short: sustainable value creation. The introductory chapter to the volume, Stimulating Value Creation in a Europe in Crisis, is freely available at SSRN.
Much discussion about the contribution of business to sustainability concentrates on the mega-enterprises, the largest listed corporations, that often dominate the news. This conference concentrates on small- and medium-sized business (SMEs), including but not limited to cooperatives. We have shaped a programme to give time to discuss and understand the possibilities for bottom-up approaches to sustainable value creation.
With the backdrop of the discussions on the proposal for EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and the newly adopted Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, both limited to corporations of some size, we ask what national laws and other forms of regulation can contribute to sustainable governance in the smaller businesses. The conference concludes with an open discussion where we will be encouraging both speakers and audience to give their best ideas.
Programme
NB! Note that all times in the programme are Eastern European Time (EET).
9.30-10.00 Registration
10.00-10.15: Welcome Address by Lia Athanassiou, Professor of Commercial Law, Director of the Department of Private Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
10.15-11.00: Keynote speech: Sustainable value and planetary boundaries
Sarah Cornell, Principal Investigator and Associate Professor, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, and Beate Sjåfjell, Professor, University of Oslo, Faculty of Law, and Visiting Professor, College of Europe
11.00-11.30: Sustainable value creation in cooperatives and SMEs: Law’s possibilities and limitations
Jukka Mähönen, Professor of Law, University of Oslo, Faculty of Law, and Professor of Cooperative Law, University of Helsinki
11.30-11.45: Short break
11.45-12.30: Possibilities and limitations in selected Southern European countries
Fifty shades of Coops: an Italian perspective on sustainability and cooperative societies (with a few suggestions on private companies)
Alessio Bartolacelli, Associate Professor of Business Law & Jean Monnet Chair Holder, University of Macerata, Department of Law, and Visiting Professor, Riga Graduate School of Law
Steps towards Sustainability in Spanish SMEs
María Concepción Chamorro Domínguez, Associate Professor of Commercial Law, Rey Juan Carlos University, Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences
Joint Q&A for both speakers
12:30-13.15: Possibilities and limitations in selected Southern European countries cont’d
Sustainability as a middle name. History of the future of Portuguese cooperatives
Alexandre de Soveral Martins, Associate Professor, University of Coimbra Law Faculty/UCIleR
Sustainable value creation and SMEs in Greece: challenges and perspectives
Christina Livada, Assistant Professor of Commercial Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Joint Q&A for both speakers
13.15-14.30: Lunch Break
14.30-15.00: Sustainable value creation – how can we move forward?
Integrating sustainable value creation into circular economy solutions: the case of food waste reduction
María Jesús Muñoz Torres, Head of the Horizon Europe To No Waste Project, Professor in Finance in the Department of Finance and Accountancy, Universitat Jaume
Q&A
15.00-15.30: Introduction to the panel debate: New approaches to sustainable value creation in Southern Europe
Pitch by the organisers for the open debate where speakers and audience will discuss: What are new approaches to sustainable value creation in Southern Europe? What is your main takeaway or suggestion?
15.30-15.45: Short break
15.45-16.45: Open debate: New approaches to sustainable value creation in Southern Europe
16.45-17.00 Ending of Conference by Christina Livada, Assistant Professor of Commercial Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Registration
The conference is open to all interested. Registration is required with early registration recommended for those who would like to be present in the venue in Athens, due to a limited number of seats.
Please register your participation for physical and digital participation, by noon EET 13 March.
Organising Committee
- Associate Professor Alessio Bartolacelli
- Assistant Professor Christina Livada
- Professor Jukka Mähönen
- Professor Beate Sjåfjell
