IL CONTRATTO DI EFFICIENTAMENTO ENERGETICO. Intersezioni tra profili di diritto privato e prospettive giuspubblicistiche

This dissertation examines the Energy Performance Contract (EPC) from a private law perspective, analysing its structure, cause, and legal qualification within the broader framework of the evolving energy market and the ecological transition. Although defined by Legislative Decree No. 102/2014 and framed within public-private partnerships under Legislative Decree No. 36/2023, the EPC lies at the intersection between contractual autonomy and the pursuit of environmental sustainability as a public interest. Against the background of the European Green Deal and the “Energy Efficiency First” principle, the research assesses whether the EPC qualifies as an “ecological contract” capable of reshaping traditional civil law categories. It explores whether the environmental function affects the contractual cause and merits assessment, or whether environmental protection primarily operates as a positive externality of the economic transaction. From a classificatory standpoint, the thesis argues that the EPC should be understood as a transtype purpose-oriented contract. Its defining feature is the contractual objective of achieving and monitoring energy efficiency, which may structurally take the form of a works and services contract or a mixed contractual scheme. The contractual “purpose” thus becomes the organising element of the legal regime, influencing risk allocation, price determination, and the assessment of performance. In the concluding section, the dissertation maintains that the EPC’s legal framework should be reconstructed through a coordinated application of general contract law and the rules governing analogous contractual types, according to a criterion of functional compatibility with the pursued purpose. Despite its public and environmental relevance, the EPC ultimately remains consistent with the general theory of contract, highlighting the role of private autonomy in implementing the ecological transition.