Reports

In the 21st century, environmental degradation has become one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity, with multinational corporations frequently positioned at the center of this crisis. Activities such as large-scale deforestation, oil and chemical spills, unsustainable mining, industrial pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have caused widespread and often irreversible damage to ecosystems. Beyond environmental harm, these practices profoundly affect human communities, compromising health, food security, water access and the cultural integrity of populations particularly those in the Global South and indigenous territories. Despite the extensive and measurable harm, corporate accountability remains limited, with legal and regulatory frameworks often failing to deter destructive practices. Financial penalties are frequently treated as operational costs, while criminal liability for corporate environmental harm is rare, leaving victims with limited recourse.

Historically, corporate environmental accountability has been shaped by both domestic and international law, with significant gaps remaining while countries have established environmental protection statutes, enforcement is inconsistent and often influenced by economic interests. Internationally, efforts to regulate corporate conduct through legal instruments and regional measures have sought to impose standards of responsibility. Additionally, there is growing momentum to recognize ecocide the destruction of ecosystems as an international crime under the Rome Statute, which would allow for criminal prosecution of corporate entities and state actors responsible for large-scale environmental damage.

Corporate environmental crimes are not purely legal or technical issues; they are deeply intertwined with human rights, social justice and equity as vulnerable populations, particularly women, children, indigenous peoples and communities in resource-rich but economically marginalised regions, disproportionately bear the costs of environmental destruction. These harms range from displacement due to land degradation, contamination of water supplies and exposure to toxic substances, to the loss of traditional livelihoods and cultural heritage. The ethical imperative to protect these populations necessitates a holistic approach, integrating environmental stewardship with human rights protections, enforcing meaningful corporate due diligence and ensuring remedies that are both restorative and preventative. Many corporations pursue profit maximization with insufficient regard for ecological limits, often exploiting regulatory loopholes or the uneven enforcement of laws across jurisdictions. This dynamic underscores the need for systemic reforms, including stronger legal mechanisms, enhanced civil society oversight and greater corporate transparency and responsibility.

This report seeks to examine the multi-dimensional nature of corporate environmental crimes, considering legal, ethical, economic and social perspectives. By highlighting case studies, emerging international norms and potential pathways for reform, it emphasises the urgent need for transformative measures that hold corporations accountable while protecting both ecosystems and the human communities that depend upon them. Ultimately, effective corporate accountability is not just a matter of legal compliance; it is a moral and societal imperative to ensure environmental sustainability, human rights protection and intergenerational justice.

1.1. Environmental crimes and corporations

Multinational corporations are behind some of the most devastating environmental crimes of our time. From catastrophic oil spills and rampant deforestation to the dumping of toxic waste, their actions have left ecosystems permanently scarred and communities struggling to survive. Yet, despite the scale of this destruction, corporate accountability remains difficult to address. Too often, these crimes are met only with regulatory fines or civil penalties, while criminal prosecutions are almost unheard of.

This justice gap is partly rooted in international law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) does not currently recognise large-scale environmental destruction as a crime under its jurisdiction. While experts and activists have pushed for the recognition of “ecocide” as a new international crime, corporations themselves remain effectively shielded from prosecution.

1.1.1 The cost of corporate damage

This represents a critical gap. Most existing domestic and international laws focus on civil remedies, such as fines or compensation, rather than criminal prosecution. As a result, many corporations absorb these penalties as routine operating costs, rather than seeing them as meaningful deterrents. However, their responsibilities are massive, as it has been estimated that the world’s largest corporations are responsible for some $28 trillion in climate damage, a figure nearly equal to the entire U.S. economy in 2024. The research, conducted by Dartmouth College, traced greenhouse gas emissions from 111 companies, finding that just 10 fossil fuel giants (including Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell) account for more than half of the total damage (Callahan & Mankin, 2025).

By using advanced climate modelling, scientists were able to directly link emissions from these companies to rising global temperatures and the intensification of extreme heat. The study highlights how individual corporations can be tied to billions of dollars in annual economic losses through heat-related damage alone, without even factoring in floods, droughts and other climate disasters.

The findings dismantle claims of “plausible deniability” long used by polluters, showing that responsibility for climate harms can now be scientifically traced to specific corporate actors.

This evidence strengthens calls for corporate accountability in the climate crisis, and reinforces a simple truth: the actions of a few powerful corporations are driving immense and measurable harm to people, economies, and ecosystems worldwide.

1.2. Who is a corporation

A corporation is a legal entity distinct from its members, recognised under law as a “legal person” capable of holding rights and responsibilities in its own name. (Muchlinski, 2014) Unlike partnerships, where owners are personally liable, a corporation can independently enter into contracts, borrow and lend money, acquire and sell property, hire employees, sue and be sued and pay taxes. This legal separation, formalised through registration or incorporation, allows corporations to raise and manage capital, organise complex operations and operate across multiple jurisdictions, making them some of the most powerful actors in the modern economy.

The concept of the corporation evolved from chartered trading companies in the 16th and 17th centuries, which combined commercial enterprise with governmental authority, granting founders trade monopolies and administrative powers over foreign territories. These early corporations were hybrid organisations, blending private and public law, where private enterprises deliver essential services alongside profit-making objectives (Muchlinski, 2014). Over time, the legal notion of “person” expanded beyond natural individuals to include corporations, associations, joint-stock companies, NGOs and governments, recognising their capacity to act as independent legal actors in both domestic and international contexts. The International Court of Justice has affirmed the separate legal personality of corporations in cases such as Barcelona Traction (1970) and Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (2007), underlining the legal recognition of corporate personhood at the global level.

It can be said that modern corporations are defined by five key elements: legal personality, limited liability, transferable shares, centralised management and investor ownership (Kraakman and others, 2009). While these features enable efficiency, economic growth, and innovation, they also create significant challenges for accountability. Limited liability protects investors from personal ruin, but it can allow parent companies to evade responsibility for the harmful acts of subsidiaries, externalising social and environmental costs onto communities and ecosystems. Confusing the legal entity with the underlying economic enterprise can exacerbate this, leaving victims unable to claim redress for injuries caused by multinational corporations or complex corporate groups.

1.2.1. Corporate crimes

The concept of corporation, discussed earlier in this chapter, provides the basis for understanding corporate crimes and the criminal liability of corporate entities. Corporate crime encompasses illegal acts committed by corporations or their officials with the primary objective of advancing the economic interests of the organisation. Unlike civil wrongs, where a corporate entity can be held liable relatively straightforwardly through remedies such as compensation, injunctions or specific performance, establishing criminal liability is far more complex. This complexity arises from the peculiar structure of corporations, where ownership is dispersed among shareholders while decision-making authority is concentrated in a few top executives, often referred to as the “directing mind and will” of the organisation (Sumanth, 2025).

These crimes often occur within the framework of ordinary business activities, making them difficult to detect. They are characterised by low visibility, anonymous structures of action, and indirect interactions with victims. Unlike conventional crimes that involve personal contact, the victims of corporate crime are often diffuse, including other businesses, regulatory agencies, communities and society at large. The risks posed by corporate misconduct extend beyond economic loss to include significant social and environmental harm, public health hazards and erosion of trust in institutional frameworks. Corporate crime can take many forms, from fraudulent financial practices and regulatory violations to large-scale environmental harm, including pollution, degradation of natural resources and failure to comply with statutory environmental obligations.

Environmental crimes committed by corporate entities constitute a critical subset of corporate wrongdoing. These offences may arise due to ignorance of environmental responsibilities, negligent management, inadequate training or resources or deliberate attempts to bypass environmental laws for economic gain (UK Parliament, 2005). Such crimes often result in severe and widespread damage to ecosystems and communities, reflecting the disproportionate power and influence corporations hold within modern societies.

Corporate crime must be framed as more than just a legal or economic issue, as it primarily reflects a profound imbalance of power with far-reaching consequences for society, the environment and everyday life, especially for the most vulnerable and for indigenous communities. Reading the phenomenon merely as an offence to be punished overlooks the systemic dimensions of the issue. Instead, it must be recognised as a complex matter that displays structural inequities, environmental exploitation and social vulnerabilities, demanding a perspective that considers the full scope of its impact.


Even more, corporations today wield immense economic, social, political, and environmental influence. They dominate energy, manufacturing, service industries and essential goods worldwide, affecting the lives of billions. While they can drive innovation and growth, unchecked corporate activity contributes to poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, and climate change.
The modern corporation, while originally created for social and commercial purposes, has largely become profit-driven, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a small group of investors or shareholders. Its legal structure enables efficiency and expansion, but also facilitates unchecked social and environmental harm. Addressing these risks requires a comprehensive approach: enforcing robust due diligence obligations and establishing corporate criminal liability.