Bocconi Is a Scientific Partner of B20

THREE FACULTY MEMBERS ARE TAKING PART IN THE DIALOGUE FORUM WITH THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY ORGANIZED BY CONFINDUSTRIA TO DEVELOP CONCRETE ACTIONABLE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE G20

Bocconi is one of the five universities chosen as scientific partners by the Business 20 (B20), the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community.
 
As Italy chairs the G20 in 2021, Confindustria, the Confederation of Italian Industry, is the B20 host organization and Bocconi Alumna Emma Marcegaglia is the B20 Chair. The B20, established in 2010, is supported by valuable partnerships with international business organizations and associations – “Network Partners”, and with leading global strategic consulting firms – “Knowledge Partners”. For the first time in B20 cycles, Confindustria has also engaged universities as “Scientific Partners”.
 
B20 working groups (seven task forces and one action council) are entrusted with developing consensus-based policy proposals to the G20 and to international organizations and institutions on topics relevant for the business community.
 
“We are proud to give our contribution to an endeavor aimed at delivering concrete actionable policy recommendations on current economic priorities,” says Francesco Perrini, Full professor in the Management and Technology Department, President of Bocconi Sustainability Committee, and a member of the action council on Sustainability & Global Emergencies. Stefano Pogutz, Assistant Professor of Sustainability at SDA Bocconi School of Management is participating in the task force on Energy and Resource Efficiency, while Ferdinando Pennarola, Associate Professor of Organization and Management of Information Systems at Bocconi, is a contributer to the task force on digital transformation.
Professor Pennarola, in particular, is working on the hot topic of cyber security. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital tools all across the world, thus multiplying the incentives for hackers to hit, as shown, for instance, by the recurring stories of companies subject to ransomware attacks.
 
Professor Pogutz is studying how to reduce the use of energy in the so called “hard-to-abate” sectors. Heavy industries and heavy-duty transport (shipping, trucking and aviation) consume large quantities of high-carbon energy and, even if alternative technological solutions are available, they are still very expensive.
 
The action council on Sustainability & Global Emergencies, with the participation of Professor Perrini, will address the G20 on how to face systemic threats under a sustainability-oriented and coordinated framework. Prof. Perrini is working on the development of global standards for sustainability reporting. “With rigorous definitions and shared standards,” he says, “we can make sustainable reports easier to interpret, comparable and more useful to investors, thus preventing green washing episodes.”
 
The B20 Italy will officially convey its final communiqué to the G20 Presidency at the occasion of the B20 Final Summit that takes place traditionally at least one month ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, to be held in Rome, on 30 and 31 October, 2021.
 
Pictured above, from left: Francesco Perrini, Stefano Pogutz, Ferdinando Pennarola
 

by Fabio Todesco