**5. Environmental sustainability challenges to CSR and SI approaches: "Innovative" application fields**

The research questions that have emerged within the approaches described above are not all supported by empirical evidence, surveys or statistical models. In this sense, it is essential to recall two reference application areas: on the one hand, the approaches linked to the themes of territorial redevelopment with innovation and responsibility, starting from investment analysis models (DCFA) and from the ideas offered by rating; on the other hand, interpretative theories that in a very recent application [78] investigate the link between innovation and environmental performance with the structural equation modeling (SEM): the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) theory explain the HRM-performance link in the context of the manufacturing sector SMEs in the UAE [79–83].

#### **5.1 Environmental sustainability challenges in urban and peri-urban regeneration processes**

Ongoing research has taken into consideration some limited application fields, in particular those of urban and peri-urban regeneration processes [17–84]. Through this magnifying glass we want to point out some potential evolutions of the CSR theme, applied on investments that involve interventions on the built heritage, with the aim of creating value on goods and contexts. In this sense, the strategies upstream of these processes can be defined as Social impact-oriented.

Significant contributions can be found in the theoretical approaches developed by the economic-appraisal and evaluation disciplines: they can offer ideas for reflecting on the value of initiatives with both financial and social performance purposes [2, 12, 17]. Just as the evaluation of cultural and environmental assets takes place, for example, in the light of the concept of total economic

value (which includes the values of use of the goods, the values of non-use and the externalities generated), the value of an impact investing intervention could be estimated considering different components of value, which include the different facets that, in addition to the value of the intervention for the lenders, can take on the social value generated (for example the value of change of the individual condition, the value of change for the target community as a whole, the externalities generated, the environmental damage avoided, the green investment costs for benefits for future generations, etc.). The vision of the green entrepreneur in the management of the company is an innovative point of view with respect to legal obligations and falls within the sphere of responsibility for environmental management: a responsible business management model based on the "stakeholder" model, in which the creation of value it is not limited to risk shareholders who enter capital shares, but in which companies assume management objectives that bring mutual benefit to the community. As a mere non-exhaustive example, mention is made of the application of the principles of the Multifunctional Agriculture Model (MAM, **Figure 2**), or rather of a "responsible" management process for an Italian case study [17, 84]: the results are linked to the public-private strategies for the valorization of the historic agritourism system of Volpiano (in the metropolitan city of Turin, Italy).

In this case, ideas for interesting developments are the reinterpretation of the toolkit of the integrated Discounted-Cash-Flow-Analysis method-DCFA (which incorporates cost and income items of a "green" nature) with the MAM and the CSR approach. In this case, the unresolved issues of land use and landscape protection can be further factors of social and ethical responsibility. The feasibility check of the "green" scenario to enhance the System of the 5 historic farmhouses indicates higher performance than the traditional scenario: profit is generated by the high degree of success in the reception of "environmental" bonuses and incentives and by the multifunctional diversification of production and the related impacts on all the stakeholders involved, together with an increase in the value of the land.

#### **Figure 2.**

*A multifunctional agriculture model (MAM) (source: elaboration of the author by UNEP, GRID-Arendal, [85].*

*The Ethical and Responsibility Components in Environmental Challenges… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94341*

#### **5.2 Green innovation and environmental performance: an other perspective**

Research groups [78] from the fields of economics and innovation in business management have experimented with interpretative models that have investigated the relationship between role of green transformational leadership and green human resource management (HRM).

The rich literature, through very recent empirical support [78], strongly restores the link between human capital and corporate performance: the topic, debated for some time in the literature within the lines of research on human resources management and related strategies, in recent experiments have highlighted strategic elements on how to achieve green innovation and adopt it for superior environmental performance to beat competitors in the markets.

Among the emerging strategies - tested with robustness and empirical evidence through models of structural equations - the scientific community has highlighted future directions through the following phenomena: 1) investing in environmental management is advantageous for the company to gain a good image in the eyes of stakeholders: the company should emphasize and reinforce the green leadership behaviors necessary for the implementation of Green HRM practices and Green HRM policies; 2) Green HRM practices are instrumental in directing human potential towards their own environmental management activities: top management should focus their policies on integrating the company's environmental management objectives with green HRM policies and practices to support the innovation of green processes and products; 3) environmental performance depends on the quality of the green process and on the innovation of the green product: green processes and product innovation should not depend on the pressing actions of the stakeholders, but constitute the lever of proactive measures, aimed at reducing the any negative environmental impact to improve environmental performance.

In fact, therefore, leaders and managers should institutionalize environmental management responsibilities in the performance evaluation and management system for employees, to show in the analysis of production processes the positive impacts on work behaviors (for example, analysis of green working environment, recycling, waste management and energy efficiency, etc.).
