Investing in the environment : European banks and environmental protection from corporate social responsibility to sustainable development (1970s-1990s)

Abstract

This paper presents the early findings of the project ‘European Banks and Environmental Protection, 1970s-1990s,’ financed by the EUI Research Council for the year 2023 and renewed for the year 2024. It provides an initial survey of current scholarship on the development of international environmental governance and the involvement of economic and financial actors, with a focus on the European Communities (EC)/European Union (EU) environmental policy. On the basis of preliminary research in the archives of several European banks in Italy and the UK, this paper suggests that banks influenced the formation of environmental policy in the EC/EU by committing to the goal of sustainable development, and by delaying the implementation of key concepts such as lender liability for environmental damage well into the 21st century.