From ideas to action: shaping a new corporate governance

26 February 2026 | Turin, Italy – Cottino Social Impact Campus

From 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm CET

A deep learning session focused on corporate governance issues and the touch points with innovation, onboarding nature and society – to gather strategies, models and tools that emerged globally at the GAIL 2025 summit and to reframe them into the Italian context, thanks to the experience and vision of the Knowledge Pillar “Legal Impact” of Cottino Social Impact Campus and ISTUD Business School.

Register to attend here

Registration is open to GAIL members and non-members.

Agenda

h 2.30 PM | Opening and topic setting – Emiliano Giovine, Lawyer & Vice-President of GAIL (Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers Europe) and Scientific Director of Legal Impact Pillar Cottino Social Impact Campus & ISTUD Business School.

h 3.00 PM | Onboarding Nature – International Overview with Mhairi Letcher, Head of Legal & Governance at B Lab Europe and Jacobien Viets: Partner at Liance (GAIL Europe)

h 3.45 PM | Transformative Governance – Corporate & Innovation Insights – 1st session

h 4.15 PM | Networking break

h 4.30 PM | Transformative Governance – Corporate & Innovation Insights – 2nd session

h 5.00 PM | Onboarding Nature, Innovation and Society – Mario Calderini, Full Professor Politecnico di Milano and Scientific Advisor Cottino Social Impact Campus

Overview

How can we build participatory business models and decision-making processes oriented – in the medium to long term – toward generating value, pursuing collective interests and sustainable success?

It is increasingly clear that, in this time of constant regulatory evolution and deep socio-environmental challenges, both sustainability risk management and a corporate sustainability strategy aimed at long-term value creation cannot exist without a radical paradigm shift within governance toward a transformative and inclusive approach to a transversal notion of nature.

An approach that embraces a wide and diverse range of stakeholders and rights holders: from biodiversity to climate, and from the protection of human rights to the dignity of individuals and communities. This new governance model responds to demands that go far beyond mere compliance, reflecting increasingly clear and targeted trends and expectations from markets, banks, investors, and consumers.

Innovative models and tools for corporate and communities

The future of governance lies, therefore, in the development of innovative tools that, over time, incorporate and safeguard the voices of communities and nature within corporate decision-making processes even when it comes to controversial or emerging issues. These tools include statutory amendments, the establishment of advisory committees, and the revision of procurement processes, contractual mechanisms, and even corporate ownership structures.

• Legal frameworks for participatory, rights-based governance; integration of local knowledge into governance structures.
• Better legal tools for emergent climate technologies or large-scale nature-based solutions, and the following outcomes: future-ready governance that centers justice, agency, and participation.
• Greater legal recognition of community and nature as governance actors.

A governance model that is ready for the future must therefore be able to place justice, agency, and participation at its core, balancing these with innovation and the intentional pursuit of positive impact.

What brings GAIL, Cottino Social Impact Campus and ISTUD Business School together

GAIL, the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers, has legal impact as its associative and distinctive element, placing at the center of its mission the knowledge, understanding, methods, and practices that promote law as a force for positive impact.

Cottino Social Impact Campus supports the promotion of legal impact to facilitate transformation, driven by the belief that the impact lens is a key driver of societal change.

ISTUD Business School designs and leads advanced education programmes on these topics, drawing on its 50 years of experience in professional and managerial higher education.