Author
Prof Andrea R. Castaldo
Organisation/Institution
University of Salerno
Country
ITALY
Panel
Criminal Law
Title
Criminal Law as a Driver of Sustainable Governance: A Schumpeterian Approach to Environmental Compliance and Legal Knowledge
Abstract
This paper explores the role of criminal law as an instrument of environmental sustainability and legal knowledge creation, through the interpretative lens of Joseph Alois Schumpeter’s theory of creative destruction. Originally conceived to describe how innovation disrupts and renews economic systems, Schumpeter’s model offers a compelling framework for understanding the adaptive capacity of criminal law to respond to ecological challenges and global governance needs. The analysis focuses on the criminalization of environmental harm, particularly the offences related to ecomafias and the transnational trafficking of waste - activities that operate across borders and generate complex pollution chains. These phenomena highlight the urgent need for enhanced international cooperation, regulatory harmonization, and traceability mechanisms capable of fostering a coherent “no-pollution area.” Within this perspective, criminal law emerges not merely as a tool of repression, but as a generator of legal knowledge: a system that produces, disseminates, and enforces shared standards of responsible conduct in the environmental domain. The paper identifies two essential dimensions of a sustainable criminal framework. First, its preventive function, which should promote compliance mechanisms allowing the regularization of minor infringements before irreversible environmental damage occurs. Second, its restorative capacity, aimed at repairing harm and reinstating the status quo ante through proactive legal and cooperative measures. Both dimensions, if effectively implemented, could transform environmental criminal law into a driver of sustainable governance rather than a mere reaction to ecological crises. By applying Schumpeter’s notion of controlled renewal, the paper argues for a model of Schumpeterian sustainability in criminal law - one that aligns normative innovation with environmental responsibility. Ultimately, fostering legal knowledge and adaptive criminal governance becomes crucial to ensure that the law contributes constructively to ecological resilience and to the long-term sustainability of both natural and legal ecosystems.
Biography
Andrea R. Castaldo is Full Professor of Criminal Law and Corporate Crime and Risk at the Department of Legal Sciences (School of Law) of the University of Salerno. In 2024, he serves as Course Leader of the Excellence Training Program entitled “CY-JUST (Cybersecurity & Cybercrime: JUSTice in time)”, funded by the Italian Ministry of Justice, and as Director of the Interdepartmental Research Center on Economic Crimes (C.I.R.C.E.) at the University of Salerno. In 2023, he was appointed to represent the Campania Region at the National Conference on Restorative Justice. Since 2017, he has been a Guest Researcher at the Research Center on International Cooperation regarding Persons Sought for Corruption and Asset Recovery in G20 Member States- Beijing (China). He is a member of the Interinstitutional Anti-Corruption Coordination Table at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and actively promotes scientific collaboration with national and international organizations. He is also a Member of the Scientific Committee of the IECLO (International & European Criminal Law Observatory) and Key Teacher of the Jean Monnet Course “EU-GLOBACT (Transnational Crime and EU Law)”, where he is responsible for the section “Transnational Crime, the European Union and the Financial System.”
