Green energy and black economy: mafia investments in the wind power sector in Italy

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Version: author
Serval ID
serval:BIB_6615B9DE8A2E
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
Green energy and black economy: mafia investments in the wind power sector in Italy
Journal
Crime, law and social change
Author(s)
Caneppele S., Riccardi M., Standridge P.
ISSN
0925-4994
Publication state
Published
Issued date
03/2013
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
59
Number
3
Pages
319--339
Language
english
Notes
caneppele_green_2013-1
Abstract
In recent years, the EU has supported actions to develop the green economy. Among these, incentives to sustain the growth of the wind power (WP) sector were welcomed as strategic for promoting environmental sustainability. This paper argues that the enthusiasm in supporting the green economy, without a preliminary assessment for crime opportunities, could end up fueling the black one. In particular, looking at the Italian case, the intention to facilitate wind farm construction provided remarkable (economic and procedural) incentives but neglected the issue of crime infiltration in the legitimate economy. Consequently, investments in wind farms also became a very lucrative business for organized crime (OC) groups. Through an analysis of the WP sector in Italy, this paper aims to show that, in territories characterized by a significant presence and control of OC groups, regulation could have an adverse effect providing opportunities for OC infiltrations in the legitimate economy. In particular this paper discusses whether investments in the WP sector in Italy are more likely in those regions with higher levels of OC presence and analyzes the role played by OC groups in cases of criminal infiltrations in the WP sector.
Keywords
organized crime, green criminology, crime script, green energy, corruption
Web of science
Create date
23/05/2016 12:47
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:22
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