Integrating Sustainability in EU Corporate Governance Codes

In the light of the strong commitment by the EU in undertaking a sustainable path toward the goals set by the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda, and the prospected EU initiatives concerning the establishment of a sustainable corporate governance, it is more pressing than ever evaluating how companies can truly integrate a long-term sustainable approach in their strategies and operations, and therefore whether corporate governance codes could provide a useful tool toward such objectives. Many authors investigated the effective implementation of corporate governance codes, but a few considered the role of the codes in promoting environmental and social responsibility. The aim of the chapter is to comparatively evaluate the most recent attempts to integrate sustainability considerations in corporate governance codes of listed companies within the EU Member States, in order to understand if such progress is on the way and which best practices could be taken into consideration and disseminated by the EU authorities in the years to come. Although this chapter is the result of joint work, Paragraphs from 7.2 to 7.5.8 should be attributed to Shanshan Zhu.