Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
markets but the story does not stop there. The same forces that allow
for such foreign investment to potentially lead to exploitative and asym-
metric development, may also empower institutions and agents that can
provide regulatory oversight.
One paradigm that has received considerable attention in recent years
as a global phenomenon is “corporate social responsibility” (CSR). While
there has been considerable concern about the potential for using envi-
ronmental dimensions of CSR as a means of co-opting opposition without
substantive change, the growth of international institutions to monitor
CSR has improved the likelihood that “greenwashing” can be minimized.
Transnational global policy networks as manifest in organizations such
as the Global Compact may be developed further to provide such a safety
net against exploitation of CSR principles (Khagram and Ali 2008).
CSR refl ects a pragmatic acceptance of the reality that corporations
must achieve and retain the support of the communities affected by their
operations. The driving force in this regard is often not a commitment
to human rights or environmental sustainability per se, though aspects
of company behavior may certainly be consistent with such a commit-
ment. Neither is it simply an economic calculus based on the desire to
enhance effi ciency. Rather what is involved is a pragmatic calculation of
what is needed to win the degree of community support required to avoid
delay or disruption to company operations (Hamann 2003; Humphreys
2000). CSR may also be thought of as a “modern” or “enlightened”
approach to maximizing effi ciency, based on a recognition that in today's
world, minimizing input costs and maximizing returns relative to risk
requires corporations to utilize a calculus different from that employed
in previous decades. Inputs would be minimized not only to reduce pro-
duction costs, but also to minimize an extraction project's environmental
footprint at each stage of the production change. For example, reducing
the usage of energy fuels in a mining operation would reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and other environmental impacts of producing those fuels
in the fi rst place, of transporting them to the mine site, of burning them,
and of disposing of waste products.
In some cases this will involve actions that are “economically ineffi -
cient” in the short term. There is also an important environmental justice
dimension of this matter that has been studied by Gouldson (2006) in
his comparison of CSR performance in the European Union and the
United States. The social license may ostensibly be easier to obtain from
vulnerable impoverished communities and lead to subservience rather
than true “buy-in.” The tacit acceptance of a project may be misunder-
