Giulio Centemero, Member of the Italian Parliament, Expert in the fields of Tax and Legal & Fintech: Ecology Transition developed through bottom-up and shared ESG strategies.
BIOGRAPHY
Giulio Centemero is a skilled Financial Advisor and Auditor. He has been a Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies since 2018, where he is part of the VI Commissione Finanza (6th Finance CommiDee). He graduated in Economics and held a Master’s degree in Public Administra<on Management within the SDA Bocconi School of Management and a specialisation course in Project Management at the Boston University.
He gained considerable experience at IBM, PwC, and the European Parliament.
He is Vice President of the Parliamentary Supervision Commission on the Tax Register and of the Assemblea Parlamentare del Mediterraneo (Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly); Chairman of the Economic Commission of the same Assembly; Member of the Parliamentary network at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and Chairman of the Intergruppo Parlamentare di Amicizia Italia - Armenia (Parliamentary Intergroup of the Friendship Italy – Armenia).
He is the author of the books: "NFT e Metaverso nelle industrie creative” (NFT and Metaverse in creative industries), published by Castelvecchi, in February 2024, and co-author with Paolo Longo of the manual: "Regulatory Sandbox, Analisi e Prospettive Parlamentari della Sperimentazione Normativa nel Nuovo Millennio" (Regulatory Sandbox, Analysis and Parliamentary Perspectives of Legislative Experimentation in the New Millennium) edited by Maggioli Editore, in September 2024. Furthermore, he was interviewed and shared insights for general and financial magazines, focusing on new trend topics, notably: Fintech, Capital Markets and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
He has conceived the Sandwich project, a network circle of peer review and tutoring, originally addressed to lawyers and accountants, which organise regular high-profile meetings in Milan and Rome, London and Paris. The Sandwicher, a technical magazine on Fintech and other macroeconomic issues, is the most recent editorial outcome, available in Italian and English, with the aim to disseminate meaningful feedback from experts in the field.
MONACŒCOART® had the chance to interview Giulio Centemero who shared some interesting thoughts about Ecology Transition and ESG Strategies through Fintech and the European regulatory framework.
🔸KEY TOPICS = 🗣️ SUSTAINABLE BALANCE IN ECONOMIC GROWTH >> 🗣️ EFFECTIVE SUSTAINABLE BALANCE >> 🗣️ BEING SUSAINABLE IN ECONOMICS AND FINANCE >> 🗣️ ESG STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS AND STARTUPS >> 🗣️ NFT AN METAVERSE TO BOOST ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE.
🎙INTERVIEW
MONACŒCOART®: Based on your many years’ experience in the field of Tax & Legal & Fintec with a focus on European design, how to find the right balance among economic growth, resource efficiency, social equity and financial stability in the application of EU legislation?
🗣️ Giulio Centemero : The European regulatory framework on Sustainability provides guidance and sets objectives, but we need to give voice to local communities as well. In other words, we need to start from the bottom. And this is true in several ways. Talking about the Artificial Intelligence, the European AI Act (note: EU Artificial Intelligence Act) should be partly reformed to encourage the birth of a real European AI Industry. The paper is subdivided into two parts tackling two phases of implementation, one on risk management and the other one on experimentation. The point of view should be reversed, focusing first on the second phase to ensure a reasonable period of testing.
Within the European Union, individual national economies are very different from each other, both structurally, in terms of production and in many other respects. Think of the Agricultural Sector, when Great Britain was still part of the European Union, this Country used to import large quantities of rice from Pakistan, India, and other Commonwealth Countries. The Italian and French production were therefore penalised. Similarly, to what happens for electric vehicles, in view of the stop to the sale of diesel and petrol cars in the European Union in 2035. We must consider some relevant elements, like verifying that these vehicles are fully sustainable in all stages of production, including batteries which often do not meet adequate sustainability standards. In European Countries like Italy, there is not enough time to adapt the national Automotive with the risk to be penalised by the global market. Moreover, focusing on electric engines only is a limit. Other environmentally friendly technologies are available as the use of hydrogen.
Thus, in the absence of a bottom-up approach, it is harder to create a proper knowledge on each theme. The recent introduction of the EU Green Homes Directive (note: EU/2024/1275: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) and the consequent debate on its application have reaffirmed the need to involve stakeholders, since it may produce heavy impact on household income.
MONACŒCOART®: Can we achieve an effective sustainable outcome otherwise?
🗣️ Giulio Centemero : Yes, we can, by designing alternative forms of ecological transition, bearing in mind that some geographical areas are, and will remain, heavily polluted. Notably, the London Greater area (now out the European Union) or the Po Valley, with special regard to Milan where the Alps facilitate the concentration of air pollutants. However, any solution must not compromise technological progress by turning polluted areas into a pristine grazing ground.
In the past, EU policies took into consideration the European macro-regional structures (e.g.: Alpine, Danube, Baltic macro-region, etc.) with the direct involvement of local mayors and authorities (e.g.: Italian Provinces, German Länder, etc.). They were used to submit proposals to the European Commission setting concrete action plans to fulfill key issues, like reducing CO2 emissions, introducing more sustainable public transport, planting trees capable of absorbing carbon dioxide or encouraging teleheating, biomass energy and separate waste collection. At that time, some European countries, like Italy, were particularly virtuous thanks to effective actions coordinated by the Patto dei Sindaci (Covenant of Mayors). Now, on the contrary, goals are usually set at institutional level without involving stakeholders. We should get back to bottom-up.
MONACŒCOART®: What does “being sustainable” mean in Economics and Finance?
🗣️ Giulio Centemero : Being sustainable in Finance means adopting good governance, seekng ethical targets, having a positive impact on society, as well as not producing additional CO2 emissions. This can be achieved by starting from small company’s practices, such as using remote working to avoid unnecessary polluting journeys, printing less paper documents or preferring local and seasonal products to be served in canteens.
I would then include Social Aspects and Governance, alongside Environmental Aspects (note: key elements of the ESG approach). Each element cannot be separated from the other. We need to start from our daily routine to adopt sustainable and socially responsible behaviours, for example preferring to ride a bicycle where climate conditions allow. It can also make the difference using urban intermodality (note: development of multiple-mode transportation to create alternative solutions to traditional one) to facilitate home-school-work travel.
Financial strategies increasingly achieve their goals when business operators believe in them. As for the Artificial Intelligence (AI), some products have had a great success on the market after several years of experimentation, thanks to the support of researchers and investors. The financial approach is definitely moving towards the green direction. The big funds are suppor<ng sustainable and community service actions, taking distance from harmful projects as the production of anti-personnel mines. To sum up, the financial sector is setting ethical, sustainable, transparent and governance goals that will have a huge impact.
MONACŒCOART®: Can ESG strategies really generate competitive advantages for the business and start-up sector, which are also perceived by consumers or service users?
🗣️ Giulio Centemero : On the consumer's side, it is actually a bit more difficult to make positive impacts since cost competition still prevails, even if Generation Z, and even younger people, pay more attention to these aspects. In my opinion, investors are the ones who benefit most. For a start-up, then, adopting ESG criteria is advantageous since it can benefit from a better market positioning while attracting significant investments.
MONACŒCOART®: On the occasion of the recent presentation of your manual: "NFT e Metaverso nelle industrie creative", you said that nowadays "communities are the engine of societies", playing a key role in business-model transition. Do you think that a similar process can also be applied to the Ecology Transition, fighting against greenwashing?
🗣️ Giulio Centemero : Yes, absolutely. In my book, I refer to Takyon, an innovative startup focused on the secondary market for tourist reservations through NFTs (= Non-Fungible Tokens). The same technology could be applied to green certificates or other similar accreditations aimed at reducing pollution, or otherwise improving sustainability. With blockchain and Web.3 you can then track the entire supply chain, understand where products come from, how they are manufactured, and much more. This emerging high-tech is then both user friendly and functional for the green cause. Of course, you have always to consider its energy consumption performance. Not by chance, an increased number of digital devices are using energy sources with low environmental impact, like hydro-electric or other renewables.
The same generative Artificial Intelligence can provide us with more and more up-to-date information about ESG strategies, in a way that is usable by all. For example, a Sustainability Balance rather than the purchase or sale of Green Certificates can be done through AI. Many applications are made by ChatGPT and Python. This does not come from regulatory measures but from best practices offered by companies and individuals. So, Sky’s the Limit! ***
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By Maurice Abbati
Journalist; Editor; Communication, Media and Public Relations Specialist
Lecturer and Author in English language of Technical Articles and the Manual: "Communicating the Environment to Save the Planet, a Journey into Eco-Communication" by Springer International Publishing.
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