ESG principles between Europe and the United States: analysis of two different perspectives

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles have assumed a significant role in the financial market in recent years. ESG principles are used in sustainable finance: when making an investment decision alongside traditional financial analysis, the three criteria can be used as a metric for evaluating a company's behavior, thus addressing systematic risks and consequently achieving long-term benefits. Moreover, ESG Investing is an essential strategy for addressing climate change in the economic sector, by funding the transition to a low carbon economy. In this setting, legislators have the key role of guiding companies toward these goals. But there are some obstacles that prevent the uniformly incorporation of the ESG principles. Among them, the lack of a universal definition of some basic concepts such as sustainable, and the lack of a standard regulation framework. This leads to a fragmented landscape. It is in this context that my thesis, taking as examples the two largest current sustainable markets, the United States and Europe, aims to explore this complex framework. Additionally, the research will cover a type of ESG litigation, which is emerging in the financial sector too, called greenwashing. This thesis will report some case studies for both continents and how they are addressing this problem.