During the preparations for UNCED and the huge environmental conference itself, government representatives were unable to reach clear and binding agreements on essential measures needed to solve global environmental problems. There were too many differences in the positions of Northern and Southern governments, so more and more politicians began to look to the corporate community as the saviour. And international corporations chose UNCED as the vehicle by which they could present themselves as the green alternative.
With their tremendous economic power, these corporations have enormous influence on the environment. This puts them in an undeniable position to stimulate and develop sustainable development. However, they are simultaneously a source of local and international environmental damage, along with national industries, agricultural companies and consumers.
But this raises a question: can the international corporate community, one of the perpetrators of the world's environmental problems, successfully become the saviour of the environment? Should we all follow this new international guide with its new green coat, now that international politics has come to a standstill? Can transnational corporations offer a realistic opportunity for world-wide sustainable development? Is their omnipotent economic power an obstacle or a bridge to sustainable development? These are the central questions of this book.
The second chapter discusses how the difference in positions between the North and the South hampered agreement at UNCED on binding international environmental measures and environmental control. At the end of the chapter we will see how international corporate life lobbied intensively for this conference decision. The most important argument used by the corporate lobby was that the transnational corporate community is able to draw up an effective environmental policy independent of the political community. Mandatory international laws would, they say, only hinder corporate efforts to attain sustainable development.
The following chapters discuss whether the corporations will in fact use this freedom in the interests of the environment. They look at a number of specific characteristics of transnationals that are important in their relation to the environment:
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