In the period we are experiencing, marked by the “Decade of Action” promoted by the United Nations, all international institutions, including the EU, and states are working in a coherent way, intensifying their initiatives to the maximum to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030. With this acceleration, the construction of a sustainable development model, based on the quality rather than the quantity of growth, is establishing itself as an irreversible process, capable of profoundly affecting our economic and social systems.

In this new context, the very idea of “sustainability” is gradually assuming ever more precise and stringent meanings which are reflected in the numerous programs and projects, public and private, in the new taxonomies and development matrices, new directives, laws and regulations. All elements that mark a discontinuity with the past and prefigure new development guidelines of which only a reflection and analysis conducted with an interdisciplinary and systemic approach can help to understand their value and scope.

Clarifying the terms of the complex system of conditionality and opportunities that this process of acceleration towards sustainable development presents to the heads of public institutions and services as well as to the world of economy and work is one of the main objectives of the “Sustainability Laboratory” promoted by the Institute of Political, Economic and Social Studies – EURISPES, which has long been committed to illustrating the scope and implications of this path (see the essay on Sustainability / Unsustainability published in the 33^rdItaly Report). A more general objective pursued by the Laboratory is the formation and dissemination of a culture of sustainability as a key element to put the promoters of growth in a position to operate at their best in the current transition period.

The “Sustainability Laboratory” operates with the characteristics of the Think Tank, a structure open to the voluntary contribution of those – academics, political-institutional, business, and civil society –who have an interest in carrying out reflections, analysis, insights and contributing thus to a better understanding and evaluation of the ongoing processes for sustainability. The Laboratory has an informal character and does not bind the reference structures of the participating members. The results of this shared commitment, marked by periodic meetings, are to be considered as a contribution of public interest and, consequently, will be made available to the community through the dissemination of related information, explanatory notes, and documentation.