Globalising hazardous activites: An instrument for investor risk and responsibility

This article traces the development of principles - now called "Governance Principles for Foreign Direct Investment in Hazardous Activities" - from their inception to the present, places them in the context of overall efforts to improve corporate social and environmental responsibility, and lays out options for future action. It begins with an overview of the current state of development of initiatives to develop norms in the area of corporate social and environmental responsibility, and goes into further detail with respect to the sub-area of investor responsibility. We conclude that the area of investor responsibility is relatively undeveloped. The next section of the article describes and analyses forces and factors relevant to operations involving hazardous activities that present particular risks to human health and the environment, and places these within the context of investment decision-making. Drawing upon lessons learned from the Baia Mare incident and other industrial accidents, we conclude that development of norms of investor responsibility should as a priority focus on investments in hazardous activities.