The Greening of Business in Developing Countries: Rhetoric, Reality and Prospects

The rhetoric of corporate environmental responsibility is now being extended to developing countries, but very little is known about the actual environmental performance of big business. * How far is the greening of business a reality in the South? * Are large corporations contributing significantly to sustainable development by pursuing their business interests in an environmentally responsible manner? * What combination of measures are likely to work in expanding corporate environmental good practice? The contributors examine corporate self-regulation, environmental reporting, voluntary codes of conduct, the complementary approaches needed, including governmental regulatory measures and incentives, and the role of citizens' movements and NGOs in holding business to account. The strengths and weaknesses of a wide range of environmental policies and contexts are assessed.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Towards Corporate Environmental Responsibility? - Peter Utting Part I: The Environmental Record of the Private Sector: Selected Cases 1. The Greening of Business in Mexico - David Barkin 2. Environmental Management as an Indicator of Business Responsibility in Central America - Lawrence Pratt and Emily D. Fintel 3 . Bioprospecting in Costa Rica: Facing New Dimensions of Social and Environmental Responsibility - Silvia Rodríguez and Maria Antonieta Camacho 4. The Environmental and Social Effects of Corporate Environmentalism in the Brazilian Pulp Industry - Ricardo Carrere 5. Corporate Environmental Responsibility in Singapore and Malaysia: The Potential and Limits of Voluntary Initiatives - Martin Perry and Sanjeev Singh Part II: Promoting Corporate Environmenta Responsibility: Mechanisms and Strategies 6. Disturbing Development: Conflicts between Corporate Environmentalism, the International Economic Order and Sustainability - Richard Welford 7. Environmental Regulation of Transnational Corporations: Needs and Prospects - Michael Hansen 8. Promoting Corporate Environmental Responsibility:What Role for "Self-regulatory" and "Co-regulatory" Policy Instruments in South Africa? - Jonathan Hanks 9. New Partnerships for Sustainable Development: The Changing Nature of Business-NGO Relations - David F. Murphy and Jem Bendell 10. Towards Civil Regulation: NGOs and the Politics of Corporate Environmentalism - Jem Bendell and David F. Murphy 11. Corporate Environmentalism in the South: Assessing the Limits and Prospects - Peter Utting Acronyms Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author :
PETER UTTING is a project coordinator at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Geneva. The CONTRIBUTORS are academics, researchers and consultants based in Latin America and Europe. They include RICARDO CARRERE, who is co-author, with Larry Lohmann, of Pulping the South (Zed Books 1996)