The European Union (EU) has developed ambitious strategies to transform the economy, but it is happening too slowly and not uniformly. There is need to set up a smart regulatory mix governing products sold in the EU, designed to achieve coherence and reduce fragmentation of the existing...

What Is Life-Cycle Costing? / Jason J. Czarnezki and Steven Van Garsse -- The European Union Law of Life-Cycle Costing / Marta Andhov, Roberto Caranta and Anja Wiesbrock -- Life-Cycle Costing in the Member States : Does the Tool Meet its Goals? / Raquel Carvallo -- Life-Cycle Thinking and...

This chapter argues that capacity for corporate sustainability is shaped by over-arching rules determining trade and investment relations, but also that companies play a part in constructing those rules and their application. In this way, transnational state and corporate conduct are symbiotic,...

A traditional response to information asymmetries in financial markets has been to require disclosure and heightened transparency in investment chains. We argue in this chapter that the trust placed in such regulatory techniques will fail to deliver sustainable investment for two reasons. The...

Business as usual is no longer an option. How can the competitive advantage be given to countries and their companies that wish to pursue sustainable profit? This article presents the core of a legal reform proposal in a Nordic context, introducing planetary boundaries as a company law concept,...

An important part of the current corporate governance trend is shareholder ‘empowerment’, a policy shift making corporate managers accountable to the shareholders as perceived ‘owners’ of the company. According to this policy thinking, the corporate boards should focus on monitoring on...

Corporate purpose has again become a topic of discussion in company law and corporate governance. In the European Union, the tension between the societal approach to companies with its long history and the efficiency-based approach with its much shorter history (and weaker basis) is palpable in...