# A Sustainability Management Model for Local Government: An Explanatory Study
###### Abstract  
Although the scientific debate in the field of business economics is rich in contributions to the subject of sustainability, they mainly focus on a specific aspect represented by sustainability reporting. Consistent with this bibliographic evidence, the aim of this study was to investigate a sustainability management model in local authorities, which, by examining the dimensions of sustainability, goes beyond the focus of reporting highlighted in the literature to consider the entire sustainability cycle (from planning to measurement). To this end, the methodology of the single case study with multiple units of analysis is used, examining the case of an Italian local authority that has experimented with the sustainability management model described in this paper. The analysis of the case leads to some concluding remarks on the strengths and weaknesses of the model, contributing to the scientific debate on sustainability management and providing useful indications for public managers and political decision-makers. sustainability management; local government 2021 29 October 2021 29 October 2021 5 November 2021 5  
Environmental sustainability, considered in terms of the ability to maintain the availability of natural resources over time;  
Economic sustainability, understood as the capacity to produce lasting wealth through the rational use of available resources;  
Social sustainability, which can be understood as the ability to ensure access to services considered fundamental (security, health, education) and to guarantee conditions of well-being (seernity, sociality) in an equitable manner between current and future generations. However, recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how (along with health and economic issues) we must also consider social sustainability in terms of interpersonal relationships, which the pandemic has severely challenged. It is clear that, although the three main dimensions of sustainability are set out separately for reasons of explanatory simplification, they are interrelated and therefore require a systemic approach that considers them as elements of a whole that contribute synergistically to achieving a common goal. Several sustainability issues are of concern to citizens and scientists, considering that humanity is already demanding more than the Earth's ecosystems can renew ([PERSON] et al., 2020): Earth Overshoot Day has been brought forward from 22 August 2020 to 29 July 2021. Air pollution, climate change, waste and water management are issues that have reached such problematic levels that they have had significant negative impacts on the environment, human health and the economy. Obviously, these aspects cannot be ignored by public policies at all levels of government. In particular, local government--given its proximity to the territory--must address sustainability concerns and make them relevant on the political agenda ([PERSON] et al., 2021). Therefore, it becomes essential to understand if and how local public governments can develop managerial tools for sustainability. This is also reflected in the contents of both Agenda 21--in terms of the role attributed to local authorities on the issue of sustainability (Local Agenda 21)--and the more recent 2030 Agenda ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2018). This lays the foundations for the objective of this study, which was to investigate a sustainability management model that enables the planning, detection, measurement and evaluation of the sustainability profile in local authorities, taking into account the various dimensions of the sustainable approach and integrating sustainability management into the documents already in use by local authorities. The article is structured as follows. Section 2 recalls the main scientific contributions to sustainability management in the public sector and identifies the objective of the work.