To what extent are multinational corporations bound by international standards of conduct relating to the environment? If a corporation violates international standards, who is entitled to enforce them and in which courts? If U.S. federal (or state) courts are asked to adjudicate claims of environmental injury arising from corporate conduct abroad that violates international norms, how should those courts respond?
Given the number of U.S.-based multinational corporations and the heightened environmental awareness in both developed and developing countries, this is a subject of increasing concern for U.S. lawyers, corporations and courts. It is also another area where environmental impacts overlap with human rights concerns in developing countries, where oil, gas, mining and logging operations can lead to environmental impacts that trigger popular protests which are then suppressed by abusive state security forces (sometimes assisted by the corporation). Where local laws and courts are unable to provide a remedy for either corporate misconduct or governmental abuses, injured plaintiffs increasingly turn to foreign courts for relief under international as well as domestic law.
