Jacopo Cellini (Florenz): Banks and Environmental Protection: History and Research Perspectives

Zeit: 18:00 - 20:00 Uhr

Auftakt-Vortrag im Berlin-Brandenburger Colloquium für Umweltgeschichte (BBC) im Wintersemester 2023/24
Veranstalter: ZZF Potsdam

Jacopo Cellini (Florenz):
Banks and Environmental Protection: History and Research Perspectives

In his talk Jacopo Cellini will address methodological issues regarding the history of the environmental strategy of European banks in the early stages of European environmental policy, from the 1970s to the 1990s, linking them to current developments in historical research. He will present the findings of a study on the European Investment Bank, and he will assess the opportunity to extend this line of research to European commercial and investment banks.
The core research questions of this project aim to understand: how did environmental legislation at national and Community level impact on banks’ activities, and conversely how did they influence, if so, policy-making and legislation? Where did banks stand in the debate on the balance between environmental protection and economic growth, and how did it influence their investments and strategies? Who were the leading actors in the field, and how were they related to a broader network of European institutional and non-institutional actors, dealing with environmental issues?

Jacopo Cellini holds a PhD in Contemporary History (2015) from the Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa, Italy) and K.U. Leuven (Belgium), and has worked at the Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre of the European University Institute (EUI) since June 2018. His main research interests lie in the history of European cooperation and integration, with a focus on environmental and social policies, and the impact of religion in post-WWII European societies.