The Protection of the Environment as a Common Good: “Orchestrating” Subsidiarity, Participation, and Innovation

Environmental issues call for policies and regulatory interventions aimed at ensuring the preservation of the environment and its natural resources. In the Italian context, examples of these policies are represented by incentives devoted to innovative firms promoting sustainable development and opportunities such as administrative bartering. Nowadays, both measures are extremely popular among local institutions promoting social actions to regenerate common goods, based on projects presented by citizens, individuals, or associations. These local institutions may stimulate the generation of local ecosystems oriented to activate innovation and sustainability paths and may become orchestrators of public and private entities involved at different levels. In this perspective, the study aims to examine the application of these policies to point out their importance and the added value deriving from the horizontal side of the principle of solidarity which allows involving every level of responsibility, including businesses and citizens in protecting the common good environment. Additionally, the study intends to analyse the role of local institutions in the creation and management of local ecosystems by assuming the role of orchestrators within these innovative and sustainable networks. To achieve these objectives, the research develops a theoretical framework that describes the concept of the common good, involving the environment, the importance of the principle of subsidiarity and incentives in supporting the green economy. Finally, it considers the peculiarities of a favourable local ecosystem. Several research propositions are provided, including theoretical and managerial implications.