TY - JOUR
T1 - The potential of corporate environmental responsibility of Chinese state-owned enterprises in Africa
AU - Tan-Mullins, May
AU - Mohan, Giles
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We would like to thank the ESRC for funding the project (project number: RES-062-23-0487, principal investigator Prof Giles Mohan, co-investigator Marcus Power) and Mr. Stephan Stewart for reviewing the article.
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Drawing upon empirical data collected in China and Africa, this article evaluates Chinese overseas corporate social responsibility strategies and their effectiveness in mitigating environmental impacts in parts of Africa. China's enhanced role within the global economy has profound environmental implications for the world. In particular, China has rapidly expanded its environmental footprint in Africa, largely because of its burgeoning economic presence through trade and aid projects such as infrastructure and public works. These large-scale projects, commonly managed by state-owned enterprises (SOEs), tend to be in sectors that are environmentally sensitive such as oil and gas exploration and construction of major infrastructure. At the international level, global financial institutions along with growing pressure from civil society organizations are encouraging China to demonstrate a commitment to addressing the environmental impacts of its overseas projects. At the domestic level, growing awareness of such issues has generated an emerging trend of Chinese entities promoting and adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. These moves seek to improve the environmental and social impacts of Chinese overseas investments. However, research has shown that the outcomes of Chinese overseas CSR strategies (particularly in environmental protection) vary widely due to the operating procedures of the Chinese SOEs in combination with specific local political and social structures. In general, environmental protection is weak and so there is a need for the Chinese and African governments to create a legislative and institutional framework to address Chinese investment in Africa especially in the area of natural resource extraction.
AB - Drawing upon empirical data collected in China and Africa, this article evaluates Chinese overseas corporate social responsibility strategies and their effectiveness in mitigating environmental impacts in parts of Africa. China's enhanced role within the global economy has profound environmental implications for the world. In particular, China has rapidly expanded its environmental footprint in Africa, largely because of its burgeoning economic presence through trade and aid projects such as infrastructure and public works. These large-scale projects, commonly managed by state-owned enterprises (SOEs), tend to be in sectors that are environmentally sensitive such as oil and gas exploration and construction of major infrastructure. At the international level, global financial institutions along with growing pressure from civil society organizations are encouraging China to demonstrate a commitment to addressing the environmental impacts of its overseas projects. At the domestic level, growing awareness of such issues has generated an emerging trend of Chinese entities promoting and adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. These moves seek to improve the environmental and social impacts of Chinese overseas investments. However, research has shown that the outcomes of Chinese overseas CSR strategies (particularly in environmental protection) vary widely due to the operating procedures of the Chinese SOEs in combination with specific local political and social structures. In general, environmental protection is weak and so there is a need for the Chinese and African governments to create a legislative and institutional framework to address Chinese investment in Africa especially in the area of natural resource extraction.
KW - Africa
KW - China
KW - Corporate social responsibility
KW - Environment
KW - Power
KW - Stakeholder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84874651324&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10668-012-9409-x
DO - 10.1007/s10668-012-9409-x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84874651324
SN - 1387-585X
VL - 15
SP - 265
EP - 284
JO - Environment, Development and Sustainability
JF - Environment, Development and Sustainability
IS - 2
ER -