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Business responsibility for environmental protection in developing countries
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UNRISD
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crwr.pdf
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Abstract
"During the 1990s there have been some significant changes in the way business corporations use and manage natural resources. The so-called “greening of business” has gathered momentum particularly in the industrialized North; but in developing countries as well an increasing number of companies are adopting environmental management policies and practices that attempt to use natural resources more efficiently, minimize externalities and rehabilitate the environment. Corporations that are taking a proactive role in the field of environmental protection are also becoming increasingly influential in shaping national policy on environmental issues, as well as international standards and regulatory processes that are currently under negotiation. In certain countries, some of the most significant developments in government environmental policy have occurred when influential business interests have added their weight to the conservation lobby. As corporate responsibility for environmental protection increases, state agencies in several countries are ceding control of certain areas of resource management or protection to the private sector and reducing levels of public-sector regulation in favour of voluntary agreements or self-regulation by business. There is considerable debate, however, about whether such trends associated with “corporate environmentalism” are contributing in any meaningful way to sustainable development. There can be little doubt that a growing number of companies are now adopting codes of conduct and environmental reporting and monitoring procedures; promoting recycling, waste or pollution control and energy efficiency; and taking more proactive measures to conserve the environment. Yet many commentators dismiss these developments as extremely piecemeal, mere window dressing or as actually having resulted in negative environmental and social effects. There is a strong body of opinion which claims that the harshly competitive macroeconomic environment of the 1990s creates a context that is hostile, rather than conducive, to corporate environmentalism and that this climate is eroding any gains that have been made. Furthermore, there is concern regarding the apparent transfer of responsibility for regulation from public to private institutions and the notion that “policing the polluter” should be left to the polluter."(pg i)
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1997-09-22
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With permission of the license/copyright holder