Abstract

Despite a strong commercial and distributive exploit, the so-called GSSS financial products are still waiting for a normative definition, as well as for a «taxonomic classification». The European legislation does not help in this aspect, although it is very complex, because it is focused on the all-inclusive categories of «sustainable finance », «sustainable investments», «eco-sustainable economic activities», and aimed at the macroeconomic goal of facilitating the transition of the financial system towards a «sustainable development of the economy». However, these categories do not have a specific and well-defined normative meaning and value. Hence the need to define in the first place the financial characteristics of sustainable debt and other sustainable financial products; secondly, to identify the different types of sustainable financial products (not all attributed to the «bond genus»); thirdly, the need to define the corresponding legal categories, in order to achieve both a financial and a normative definition of them. At the same time, it is requested to analyze the repercussions of sustainability for the issuers governance, with regard to the role that some professional and institutional investors can play in this perspective, not only in the role of shareholders, but also (and perhaps above all) in the role of bondholders and debt holders, and to examine which rules of European and Italian law move in this direction and can support an active role of all (or some) of these investors towards the goal of a sustainable governance and a sustainable lender governance.