Cultura della sostenibilità e coinvolgimento dei privati nelle azioni pubbliche a tutela dell’ambiente

It is a common assumption that the goal of environmental sustainability cannot be entrusted exclusively to the action of public institutions, constantly at the forefront in identifying the most appropriate tools, including those of authoritative nature, to ensure the difficult balance between environmental protection and economic growth, but the citizens involvement is also essential in the drafting and implementation of environmental decisions. The dissemination of the culture of sustainability has, in fact, gradually encouraged in recent European and national regulations the improvement of inclusive processes of civil society, considered a resource both to strengthen the democratic nature of decisions, in terms of greater acceptability and therefore compliance with often inconvenient decisions, and finally as a form of citizens’ accountability of the environmental challenge. The paper aims to reflect on the different ways in which the involvement of private individuals in the environment decision making can be achieved, that can assume, consistently with the different dimensions of administrative participation, a conflictual or collaborative dimension. The analysis of the different models of participation of private individuals in environmental protection actions allows to underline the advantages and weakness issues of this decision–making method, also in view of the achievement of what has now become the essential objective of public policies, namely the stabilization of the climate system.