Corruption, global environmental degradation and multinational corporations – Is there a correlation?

Sammanfattning: The findings of this thesis suggest that there appears to be a bad spiral. In countries with a lot of natural resources and poorly developed socio-economic structures, there is a present tendency to lower environmental protection laws in order to attract foreign investors by creating market oriented regulations. Investors and managers of multinational corporations will reduce production costs by moving the production to countries with lower environmental protection. This perceived bad spiral results in a disincentive for the least developed countries in the world to raise their environmental standards. In combination with the overarching impediment of corruption, the development of international environmental law applied to multinational corporations seems constrained, and the global environmental degradation still remains. There is empirical research showing the results of increased pollution in developing countries with high levels of corruption, in comparison to developing countries with lower levels of corruption. Specifically, a correlation has been found between corruption and environmental degradation on a micro level. These findings taken up on a macro level might show that the development in international environmental law with a focus on multinational corporations is similar to that seen in the example of Wal-Mart in Mexico. By assessing the complex structure of corruption and the plethora for it, in combination with the global environmental protection in international law focused on multinational corporations, there might be ways of decreasing the level of corruption and therefore increase the international environmental protection by giving the regulations greater impact through making the rule of law impartial. The way is still long, but the end-goal is not out of reach.