by Steffen Bohm and Siddhartha Dabhi
compilation | published January 2010 | summary | PDF
This book presents case studies and critiques of carbon offset markets from around the world, emphasizing how this pillar of current mainstream climate policy affects the lives of communities. The book also presents alternatives to carbon markets which enable communities to live low-carbon lives.
by Oscar Reyes and Tamra Gilbertson
report | published December 2009 | summary | PDF
This streamlined sequel to the 2006 book Carbon Trading brings climate activists up to date with the disastrous record of carbon trading -- which in the wake of the debacle at the Copenhagen climate negotiations continues to be world elites' main response to climate change.
by The Corner House
article | published December 2009 | summary | full document | PDF
Overpopulation arguments in climate debates serve to delay making structural changes in North and South away from the extraction and use of fossil fuels; to justify increased and multiple interventions in the countries deemed to hold surplus people; and to excuse those interventions when they cause further environmental degradation, migration or conflict. Population numbers, in sum, offer no useful pointers toward policies that should be adopted to tackle climate change.
by Larry Lohmann and Sarah Sexton
article | published December 2009 | summary | full document | PDF
This short contribution to a Forum discussion on climate change in the journal 'Global Social Policy' outlines how and why the climate solution requires turning away from fossil fuel dependence and how the main official approach to the climate crisis worldwide -- building a single, liquid global carbon market worth trillions of dollars -- is likely to make climate change worse, not only exacerbating its social impacts but also generating negative impacts of its own.
by Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published May 2009 | summary | PDF
A talk at a Cardiff Business School conference on the insights from political organising that can help not only understand what caused the financial crisis but also develop ways forward that could ensure it is not repeated and that finance serves a public purpose.
by Larry Lohmann
briefing | published September 2009 | summary | PDF
Studying the financial crisis and the climate crisis together can provide useful tools for understanding how to tackle both. Overconfident commodification of uncertainty (in the form of a trade in new and complex derivatives) helped precipitate a global economic crash. Overconfident commodification of climate benefits (in the form of a trade in carbon) threatens to hasten an even worse catastrophe.
by NESPON, NFFPFW and Nagarik Mancha
compilation | published September 2009 | summary | PDF
Here is the long-awaited latest issue of a magazine aimed at returning the dialogue about climate change and its solutions to the "public space." Featured are pathbreaking articles uncovering the reality of UN-sanctioned "carbon saving" projects in the metals, hydroelectric, wind power, chemicals, waste management and electricity generating sectors, as well as analyses of the political economy of the scientific controversies over the monsoon and over Asia's so-called "brown cloud" of pollution.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published August 2009 | summary | PDF
One lesson the financial crisis teaches us is: beware of the new carbon markets that constitute today's main official response to climate change. These markets are startlingly similar to the financial derivatives markets that have thrown banking systems into a tailspin. (German version also available: click on "summary".)
by Joint Committee
news | published July 2009 | summary
In March 2009, the UK government published a draft Bribery Bill, which a Joint Committee comprising members of both Houses of Parliament scrutinised in May and June, taking oral and written evidence from a wide range of individuals and organisations, including The Corner House. The Committee's final report, published on 28 July 2009, "strongly support[s]" the draft Bribery Bill. "It represents an important, indeed overdue, step in reforming the United Kingdom's bribery laws, which have been a source of criticism at home and abroad for more than thirty years."
by Larry Lohmann
article | published July 2009 | summary | PDF
Carbon permit prices flashing on electronic screens in Wall Street trading rooms reflect a complex political movement to reorganize and redistribute power and knowledge. The carbon markets associated with the Kyoto Protocol, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the US's Waxman-Markey Act constitute perhaps the last great class project of a waning neoliberal regime -- the ill-fated attempt to privatize the climate itself.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published July 2009 | summary | PDF
Proposals for Green New Deals aimed at tackling both global warming and global recession are streaming forth worldwide. Unfortunately, many give short shrift to the need to phase out both fossil fuels and fossil fuel substitutes. Many also rely on obsolete conceptions of technology transfer. Future climate movements will have to focus increasingly on the democratization of research, planning and finance.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published July 2009 | summary | PDF
Can the financial derivatives markets be regulated? Can the carbon markets be regulated? The questions are parallel. Both markets try to commodify new things: in the case of the financial markets an unprecedented range of uncertainties; in the carbon markets, the earth's carbon-cycling capacity. Regulation tends to assume that any problems with either market can be handled by "internalizing externalities"; this approach will fail. A more practical approach to these markets' problems looks to decommodification. Both approaches, however, have attracted supporters from across the political spectrum.
by Frontline
- | published April 2009 | summary
The US public television's flagship public affairs programme, Frontline, produced a 60-minute documentary on "black money" -- the secret payments that make up the shadowy world of international bribery. It reveals how multinational companies create slush funds and set up front companies to obtain business and contracts. In describing the crackdown on these practices, the documentary focuses on BAE Systems and allegations about its billion dollar bribes. It includes an interview with former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Director Robert Wardle, who describes as "blackmail" the Saudi threat to withdraw intelligence cooperation with the UK if the SFO's BAE-Saudi investigation continued.
by Peter Marshall, Newsnight
- | published May 2009 | summary | PDF
BBC2 Television's Newsnight current affairs programme summarised its 8 minute broadcast: "In 2006, the British government scotched a serious fraud investigation into BAE's biggest deal, with Saudi Arabia. Now, Peter Marshall [Newsnight presenter] reveals that the company may have returned the favour. It has stopped a billion pound insurance contract which tied the government to the Saudi business." Information about stopping the insurance contract came to light as a result of legal correspondence between The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade with the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department.
by The Corner House
submission | published May-June 2009 | summary
The Joint Committee on Human Rights of the UK Parliament requested evidence for its inquiry into business and human rights on the State's duty to protect against human rights abuses by businesses; corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and the need for individuals to have effective access to remedies when their human rights are breached. The Corner House submission to the Committee focused on the policies and practices of the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) in the context of the state's duty to protect human rights. The Committee subsequently called for supplementary evidence on the government's Draft Bribery Bill and the Industry and Exports (Financial Support) Bill, which The Corner House provided.
by The Corner House
submission | published June 2009 | summary
On 25 March 2009, the UK Ministry of Justice published its long-awaited Draft Bribery Bill, the stated aim of which is "to reform the criminal law to provide a new, modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences that will enable courts and prosecutors to respond more effectively to bribery at home or abroad". The Corner House was requested by the Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the Bill to submit evidence on the proposed new offence of bribing foreign public officials.
by The Corner House
submission | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
This Corner House submission to a 2008 inquiry by the Environmental Audit Committee into the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department and Sustainable Development critiqued the ECGD's decision-making procedures concerning sustainable development; its inadequate Business Principles and need for a proactive approach; its due diligence and monitoring; information disclosure; and the OECD and ECA reform.
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published April 2008 | summary | PDF
The Merowe/Hamadab Dam on the River Nile in Sudan, which was completed in 2009, is the largest hydroproject in Africa. The major contracts were awarded to three European companies: Lahmeyer International, Alstom and ABB. Implementation to date has been characterised by human rights abuses, forced resettlement, illegality and a failure to abide by international standards. The companies consistently failed to use their influence to halt the dam's implementation until issues surrounding its impacts were resolved.
by various
presentation | published December 2008 | summary
The Corner House and others carried out a training session to assist Iraqi government officials and civil servants in understanding the principles of human rights and Iraq's international obligations in relation to investment agreements.
by solicitors Leigh Day & Co, and Export Credits Guarantee Department
- | published November 2008-January 2009 | summary | PDF
This exchange of letters between the UK's export credit agency and lawyers acting for The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade revealed that BAE Systems had cancelled all its public insurance for its arms sales to Saudi Arabia with effect from 1 September 2008. These sales have been underwritten by the agency for more than two decades and accounted for half its portfolio.
by Sarah Sexton
talk | published September 2008 | summary | PDF
This presentation raises some concerns about the term "energy security".
by Sarah Sexton
talk | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
The Woolf Report entitled "Ethical business conduct in BAE Systems plc -- the way forward" was published on 6 May 2008. This presentation explores how BAE has used the report from a critical public relations perspective.
by Larry Lohmann
presentation | published June 2009 | summary | PDF
Not all markets can be regulated effectively. Two examples are the markets for advanced credit derivatives -- largely responsible for the current economic crisis -- and the growing carbon markets that are claimed to be capable of addressing global warming and that are the particular subject of this draft chapter. The attempt to regulate such markets does little more than create an illusion of governance where none actually exists. That only allows the dangers to grow larger.
by The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade
news | published May 2009 | summary | full document | PDF
BAE Systems, the UK's largest arms company, has cancelled all its public insurance for its controversial arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The company's decision came to light as a result of legal correspondence between The Corner House/Campaign Against Arms Trade with the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) and subsequent parliamentary questions tabled by Vince Cable MP. By cancelling its insurance, BAE has let the ECGD off the hook from possible legal action over its support for the Saudi deals.
by Nicholas Hildyard
news | published April 2009 | full document
by Lord Bingham, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Rodger, Baroness Hale and Lord Brown
article | published 30 July 2008 | summary | PDF
On 30 July 2008, five Law Lords overturned the High Court's ruling of April 2008 when they stated that the SFO Director had acted lawfully in stopping a corruption investigation into BAE Systems' arms deals with Saudi Arabia when faced with a threat to national security. They stated that the Director's discretion to drop criminal proceedings extended legally to taking account of the threat uttered by Saudi Arabia that it would withdraw diplomatic and intelligence cooperation with the UK if the investigation continued, even though the threat was "ugly and obviously unwelcome".
by The Corner House and CAAT
news | published 30 July 2008 | summary | full document | PDF
The Corner House and CAAT issued this press release after the House of Lords (the UK's highest court) overturned the High Court's ruling of April 2008 that the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had acted unlawfully when he terminated a corruption investigation into BAE Systems' arms deals with Saudi Arabia. The law lords judgment confirms that the UK is in flagrant breach of its duty to implement and give force to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published May 2009 | summary | PDF
These days, being a climate activist can easily get you arrested -- or worse. But the bigger danger -- especially for activists in industrialized countries -- may be that of being seduced into expending all your energies promoting "solutions" that turn out to be bogus.
by The Corner House
note | published April 2009 | summary | PDF
Merrill Lynch is a major Wall Street investor in carbon pollution permits. Here its Global Head of Carbon Markets debates The Corner House on whether carbon markets are effective.
by Mark Thomas
news | published March 2009 | summary
At the beginning of 2009, activist comedian Mark Thomas decided to do a weekly show about the meltdown of the world's economy. "It's The Economy Stupid" combines stand up comedy with interviews with invited guests -- economists, academics, MPs, trade unionists, journalists (and members of The Corner House) -- on stage to explain what happened, find out what is going on, and explore what we can do about it.
by The Corner House
news | published March 2009 | summary
On 12-13 March 2009, development, environment and human rights groups from Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK, and local residents of the island of Jersey organised a seminar to discuss the necessity for tax haven reform and to exchange views on how governments and civil society can work towards achieving a "just transition" for tax havens that would not impact on poorer residents.
by Larry Lohmann
note | published December 2008 | summary | PDF
The European Union claims that it is "on track" to meet its modest Kyoto Protocol emissions targets. It is not. Much more importantly, it is not "on track" to wean itself off fossil fuels -- which is the real point of climate change mitigation efforts.
by The Corner House
news | published December 2008 | summary | full document
In December 2008, The Corner House was given one of the annual Human Rights Awards organised by Liberty, JUSTICE and the Law Society to commemorate International Human Rights Day.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published August 2008 | summary | PDF
Will current plans to expand carbon trading in the US and elsewhere work? No. Carbon trading is aimed at the wrong objective, squanders resources on the wrong things, requires knowledge and institutions that do not exist, is antidemocratic, interferes with positive solutions, and puts ideology above experience.
by Sarah Sexton and Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published November 2008 | summary | PDF
This presentation at the 13th International Anti-Corruption Conference highlights the contrast between the UK government's stated commitments to tackling bribery and corruption and its actions in practice. Far from having a "lack of political will", it is argued that the government has immense political will to protect powerful companies from prosecution for bribery, and has thereby created a hostile political environment for fraud investigators and prosecutors.
by Myriam vander Stichele
report | published October 2008 | summary | PDF
Huge amounts of money and capital have been able to move around the world with ease over the past few years. Governments appear not to have been aware what was going on, let alone to know what to do now in the ensuing crisis. In fact, it was (mainly Northern) governments that created the enabling environment for such free movement of capital and new financial products in the first place. This paper describes how they did so.
by Stephanie Fried
paper | published October 2008 | summary | PDF
Environmentally- and socially-destructive development projects are increasingly being funded by hedge funds, private equity and sovereign wealth funds (instead of by public or private banks) that are not subject to transparency, governance or reporting requirements. Public financial institutions are also investing in these alternative vehicles, which are often based in offshore tax havens. Basic information about these vehicles is not routinely made public. But in the midst of the financial crisis, the Asian Development Bank is pushing for even less transparency for such risky investments. Regulatory authorities should instead focus on much stronger transparency and accountability requirements and address the use by public financial institutions of "secrecy jurisdictions".
by Kavaljit Singh
briefing | published October 2008 | summary | PDF
The current protectionist backlash against state-owned sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), particularly from the Middle East and China, stems from Western policy makers' fears that SWFs follow strategic political objectives rather than commercial interests, investing in Western companies and banks to secure control of strategically important industries such as telecommunications, energy and banking. This paper examines these fears in order to understand the potential impact and implications of sovereign wealth funds in a rapidly-changing global political economy.
by Campaign Against Arms Trade and The Corner House
news | published October 2008 | summary | PDF
On 17 October 2008, the OECD's Working Group on Bribery issued a report, which holds that the UK authorities did breach their obligations under the OECD Anti Bribery Convention when the Serious Fraud Office cancelled its investigation into arms deals between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia in December 2006. The Corner House and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) issued this press release of the report, which vindicates their judicial review of the decision.
by Kavaljit Singh
briefing | published September 2008 | summary | PDF
Private equity has become an integral part of the world's financial system, creating a new type of corporate conglomerate that is reshaping the way business is conducted. It poses new challenges to labour unions, NGOs and community groups because of its influence on taxation policy, corporate governance, labour rights and public services. These challenges are especially clear in Asia, which private equity firms are targeting since the "credit crunch" took hold. Private equity's vulnerabilities, however, may provide opportunities to address public concerns.
by Nicholas Hildyard
briefing | published October 2008 | summary | PDF
Financial entrepreneurs created a 'shadow banking system' over the past 30 years to circumvent regulation and to offload risk onto others, relying on 'derivatives' and 'securitisation'. They generated easy credit that fuelled a boom in corporate mergers and acquisitions across the United States and Europe, and that enabled companies involved in mining, biofuels, private health care, water supply, infrastructure and forestry to expand their activities signficantly. When the pyramid of deals came tumbling down, however, the public had to bear the costs.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published May 2008 | summary | PDF
Slowing and halting new fossil fuel developments has moved to the top of the global climate change agenda. But what are the obstacles to, and resources for, such a project? The 10-year struggle against a gas development project in one corner of Southeast Asia, described in this forthcoming article for the journal Race & Class, offers lessons in some of the complexities.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published May 2000 | summary | PDF
Tradeable carbon credits from forests cannot be scientifically quantified. NGOs interested in participating in markets for such credits need to be aware of the climatic damage they sanction as well as the damage they may do to communities affected by fossil fuel exploitation.
by Soumitra Ghosh and Subrat Kumar Sahu (editors)
news | published September 2008 | summary | PDF
This new magazine is aimed at returning the Indian dialogue about climate change and its solutions to the "public space", instead of allowing it to remain the "exclusive property of governments, profiteers and 'experts' of various shades and hues".
by Larry Lohmann
presentation | published September 2008 | summary | PDF
Many new schemes are afoot to allow the North to pay the South for conserving its forests in return for permission to continue using fossil fuels. But how would a market in pollution rights generated by Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) play out in reality?
by Larry Lohmann
article | published August 2008 | summary | PDF
Carbon trading programmes such as the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the Kyoto Protocol have helped mobilize neoclassical economics and development planning in new projects of dispossession, speculation, rent-seeking and the redistribution of wealth from poor to rich and from the future to the present. Part of this process is the creation of ignorance, argues this article published in the journal Development. (French version also available: click on "summary".)
by Chana activists and others
compilation | published August 2008 | summary | PDF
For many years, Southern Thai Muslim communities have been fighting a destructive gas development backed by Barclays and other foreign banks that has violated their human, religious, environmental and land rights alike. In words and pictures, this book (now in an updated and revised edition) recounts their struggle.
by Kevin Smith
article | published April 2008 | summary | PDF
Widely-publicized frauds in the carbon "offset" market have led to governmental and corporate proposals to apply standards. But no one has any standards that are working. And the more onerous any attempted regulation becomes, the more the market comes to be dominated by big corporate polluters with the money to work the system.
by Zembla (The Netherlands)
presentation | published August 2008 | summary | full document
Exploring both ends of the carbon market through research and interviews in Uganda and The Netherlands, this video (available in Portuguese and English versions) brings new clarity to the debate over climate change solutions.
by Arlen Dilsizian and Larry Lohmann
talk | published July 2008 | summary | PDF
Climate change is not a new kind of social issue. It requires a re-examination of classic issues of power relations.
by The Corner House
news | published 31 July 2008 | summary | full document
The Corner House issued this response to the report by the Joint Committee of the UK Parliament scrutinising the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill.
by The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade
- | published July 2008 | summary | full document
This statement was issued in response to the House of Lords overturning the judgment of the High Court that the Director of the Serious Fraud Office acted legally in terminating the SFO's investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in its dealings in Saudi Arabia.
by Serious Fraud Office
- | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
This is the Printed Case appeal to the House of Lords by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) against a High Court ruling on 10 April 2008 that the SFO acted unlawfully in December 2006 when it stopped its investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
by Robert Wardle
- | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
This third witness statement from Robert Wardle, the former Director of the Serious Fraud Office, was submitted by the Serious Fraud Office in its appeal in the House of Lords.
by Helen Garlick
- | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
This second witness statement from the the Serious Fraud Office's Assistant Director was submitted by the Serious Fraud Office for its House of Lords appeal.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published July 2008 | summary | PDF
It's sometimes said that governments are failing to address climate change because they aren't taking the warnings of natural scientists seriously enough. In fact, as this draft chapter suggests, the failures may have more to do with lack of social science understanding -- in particular, with lack of appreciation of how the type of social change required actually takes place.
by JUSTICE
submission | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
This is a submission to the House of Lords in response to an appeal by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office from the independent human rights and law reform organisation, JUSTICE, which is the British section of the International Commission of Jurists. The submission addresses the domestic legal principles by which the legality of a prosecutor's decision to halt a criminal investigation in response to a threat should be assessed, and the relevant international obligations at issue, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
by Ann Feltham
- | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
This second witness statement from Campaign Against Arms Trade updates the House of Lords on official investigations by the US and Swiss authorities into alleged bribery and corruption by BAE Systems in relation to the Al-Yamamah military aircraft contracts.
by Dr John Jenkins, FCO
- | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
A witness statement from Dr John Jenkins of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, presented by the Serious Fraud Office during its appeal in the House of Lords.
by Patrick Bond
article | published December 2007 | summary | PDF
The death of Durban environmentalist Sajida Khan calls attention to the life-and-death consequences of the climate justice struggle. If South Africans are to be at the cutting edge of progressive climate activism, not partners in the privatization of the atmosphere, three citizens' networks -- environmentalists, community groups, and trade unions -- must join forces to identify the contradictions within both South African and global energy sector policies and practices and help synthesize modes of resistance.
by The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade
submission | published July 2008 | summary | PDF
This submission from The Corner House and CAAT lawyers to the House of Lords in response to an appeal by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office focuses on two principles of law: the Rule of Law; and compliance with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
by Jeffrey Jowell QC
- | published June 2008 | summary | PDF
This 'legal opinion' from a top UK constitutional lawyer concludes that a clause in the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill (published 25 March 2008) effectively preventing judicial review of a decision to halt a prosecution or fraud investigation on the grounds of national security violates a fundamental UK constitutional principle of the rule of law, and could be challenged under the Human Rights Act.
by The Corner House
submission | published May-June 2008 | summary | PDF
This Corner House submission to a parliamentary committee scrutinising the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill argues that the proposed legislation does not sufficiently protect the independence of prosecutors and creates a grave risk of abuse by the Government of national security arguments.
by Honorable Mr Justice Collins
- | published 29 May 2007 | summary | PDF
On 29 May 2007, a High Court judge refused to grant permission to The Corner House and CAAT for a full judicial review hearing of the December 2006 decision by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office to stop an investigation into alleged bribery and corruption in BAE's recent arms contracts with Saudi Arabia.
by court proceedings
- | published February 2008 | PDF
On 14-15th February 2008, the High Court heard a judicial review of the Serious Fraud Office's decision in December 2006 to terminate its investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia. This document is a transcript of the court proceedings of the second day, 15 February 2008, on which lawyers for the Serious Fraud Office continued their defence.
by court proceedings
- | published February 2008 | PDF
On 14-15th February 2008, the High Court heard a judicial review of the Serious Fraud Office's decision in December 2006 to terminate its investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia. This document is a transcript of the court proceedings of the first day, 14 February 2008, on which lawyers representing The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade presented their arguments, and lawyers for the Serious Fraud Office began their defence.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published May 2008 | summary | PDF
More and more commentators are now recognizing that carbon markets are failing to address the climate crisis. But more discussion is needed of why this is so, and how the way might be cleared for more effective approaches.
by The Corner House and CAAT
news | published April 2008 | summary | PDF
On 24 April 2008, the UK High Court formally quashed the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) decision to drop its corruption investigation into arms deals between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia. It also gave the SFO permission to appeal to the House of Lords against its 10th April 2008 ruling that the SFO's termination of the investigation was unlawful.
by The Corner House
submission | published March 2008 | summary | PDF
This Corner House submission to the Law Commission's public consultation on reforming the UK's antiquated corruption laws looks at corporate liability and at the role of the Attorney General in halting prosecutions of corruption offences where national security concerns have been raised.
by Dr Susan Hawley
submission | published 31 October 2007 | summary | PDF
This Corner House submission urges the Woolf Committee, set up by BAE, to look in detail at BAE's use of agents and consultants to obtain contracts, lobbying policies, covert monitoring of NGOs, failure to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, and at how BAE should deal with allegations of its past malpractice.
by Mr Justice Moses and Mr Justice Irwin
- | published 9 November 2007 | PDF
On 9 November 2007, Lord Justice Moses sitting with Mr Justice Irwin granted The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade permission to bring a full judicial review hearing against the decision by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office to terminate the SFO investigation into alleged bribery by BAE Systems in its Saudi Arabian arms deals. Their judgment outlines their reasons for giving permission, and summarises issues relating to the costs of the judicial review.
by The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade
news | published April 2008 | PDF
The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade issued this press release after the High Court ruled, in response to a judicial review brought by both groups, that the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had acted unlawfully when he stopped a corruption investigation into BAE Systems' arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
by Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Observer, Daily Telegraph
compilation | published April 2008 | PDF
Media coverage was extensive following the ruling by Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan on 10 April 2008 that the decision of the Director of the Serious Fraud Office to drop an investigation into alleged bribes by BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia was unlawful. This is a selection of some leading articles from UK newspapers.
by Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan
article | published April 2008 | PDF
On 10 April 2008, Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan ruled that the decision of the Director of the Serious Fraud Office to drop an investigation into alleged bribes by BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia was unlawful. As the judgment is long -- on the judges' own admission -- they prepared a summary of the first part of their ruling.
by Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan
- | published April 2008 | PDF
On 10 April 2008, Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan ruled that the decision of the Director of the Serious Fraud Office to drop an investigation into alleged bribes by BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia was unlawful. This is their 42-page judgment.
by Campaign Against Arms Trade and The Corner House
- | published April 2008 | PDF
The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade held a press conference at the offices of the groups' solicitors, Leigh Day & Co, following the High Court ruling in response to the judicial review brought by both groups. This statement was read out at the press conference.
by Lord Justice Moses
- | published January 2008 | PDF
On 17 January 2008, Lord Justice Moses finalised the grounds on which The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade could bring its judicial review, the disclosure of documents from the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, and the costs to be paid by both parties.
by Dr Susan Hawley
- | published April 2008 | PDF
On 10 April 2008, Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan ruled that the decision of the Director of the Serious Fraud Office to drop an investigation into alleged bribes by BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia was unlawful. This is a summary and analysis of that judgment prepared by The Corner House.
by Larry Lohmann
talk | published February 2008 | full document
by Larry Lohmann
talk | published April 2008 | full document
A discussion hosted by the Climate Justice Chicago Coalition at De Paul University examines how carbon trading creates transferable rights to dump carbon, slows social and technological change, promotes socially and ecologically destructive practices and is ineffective and unjust. This TV programme was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).
by The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade
news | published April 2008 | summary | PDF
Even before the judgement has been given on the landmark judicial review of the decision by the UK's Serious Fraud Office to halt its BAE-Saudi Arabia corruption investigation, the UK Government has introduced draft legislation whose effect would be to prevent in future such a judicial review -- and even such an investigation. The Corner House and CAAT are calling upon the public and parliamentarians to voice their concerns about the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill.
by Dinah Rose QC, Ben Jaffey, Richard Stein and Jamie Beagent
submission | published March 2008 | summary | PDF
The UK Government's draft Constitutional Renewal Bill proposes to create a new power for a political appointee and member of the Government, the Attorney General, to stop a criminal investigation or prosecution on the grounds of 'national security' without explanation or accountability to Parliament, the Courts or international bodies.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published February 2008 | summary | full document | PDF
Al Gore and many other mainstream environmentalists suggest that calculating and internalizing 'externalities' is the solution to environmental problems. Some critics counter that the spread of market-like calculations into 'nonmarket' spheres is itself a cause of environmental problems. In the course of a study of two real-world examples, carbon accounting and cost-benefit analysis, this article (published in the journal Accounting, Organizations and Society) proposes a possible way of getting beyond this stalled debate.
by Larry Lohmann
talk | published March 2008 | summary | PDF
Carbon trading proponents often assert that trading is merely a way of finding the most cost-effective means of reaching an emissions goal and a source of funding that leaves everything else exactly as it is. In fact, carbon trading undermines a number of existing and proposed positive measures for tackling climate change
by CAAT and The Corner House
news | published February 2008 | summary | PDF
This press release highlights the documents released in the High Court on 14 February 2008 revealing that Britain's biggest arms company, BAE Systems, wrote to the Attorney General on a "strictly private and confidential" basis urging him to halt the Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations that BAE had bribed Saudi officials to secure the Al Yamamah arms deal.
by Robert Wardle, Director of Serious Fraud Office
| published January 2008 | summary | PDF
A second witness statement from the Director of the Serious Fraud (SFO), Robert Wardle, was released in the High Court on Thursday 14 February 2008 during the judicial review hearing brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House into his decision to terminate the SFO's BAE-Saudi investigation.
by various
| published February 2008 | summary | PDF
Documents released in the High Court on 14 February 2008 reveal that BAE Systems wrote to the Attorney General on a "strictly private and confidential" basis urging him to halt the Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations that BAE had bribed Saudi Arabian officials to secure the Al Yamamah arms deal. The company argued that the investigation should be dropped on commercial and diplomatic grounds.
by lawyers on behalf of The Corner House and CAAT
submission | published February 2008 | summary | PDF
On 14 February 2008 in the High Court, lawyers for The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade presented this outline (or 'skeleton') of their arguments as to why the decision in December 2006 by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to discontinue the SFO investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent Al Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia was unlawful. (239KB pdf)
by The Corner House and CAAT
note | published February 2008 | full document | PDF
On 14th February 2008, the High Court will hear the judicial review of the Serious Fraud Office's decision to terminate its investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
by Gar Lipow
report | published February 2008 | summary | PDF
The obstacles to tackling the climate crisis are political, not technological, argues this book, which focuses on the most carbon-profligate country, the US.
by Jutta Kill, Brian Tokar and Larry Lohmann
talk | published January 2008 | summary
A two-hour discussion on climate politics and carbon trading at the Unitarian Church, Montpelier, Vermont, on 28 January 2008, with Jutta Kill, Brian Tokar and Larry Lohmann, videoed by Orca Productions.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published August 2007 | summary | PDF
The European Union, the US and big business are vying with each other to be recognized as taking serious action on climate change. But some of the most important leaders on climate change are groups fighting fossil fuel projects at the grassroots in places such as southern Thailand.
by various
- | published December 2007 | summary | PDF
Documents released in the High Court on Friday 21 December 2007 indicate that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into BAE's Saudi arms deals was dropped only after the then Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a personal minute to the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.
by Robert Wardle, Director of Serious Fraud Office
- | published December 2007 | summary | PDF
A witness statement from the Director of the Serious Fraud (SFO), Robert Wardle, indicates that he repeatedly rejected requests to terminate the Serious Fraud investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
by The Corner House and CAAT
news | published December 2007 | summary | full document
Documents released in the UK High Court indicate that the Serious Fraud Office investigation into BAE's Saudi arms deals was dropped only after the then Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a personal minute to the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith. They show that Goldsmith did not believe that the case should be dropped in response to alleged Saudi threats to withdraw intelligence and security co-operation.
by lawyers on behalf of The Corner House and CAAT
submission | published November 2007 | summary | PDF
On 9 November 2007 at a High Court hearing, lawyers for The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade presented this outline (or 'skeleton') of their arguments as to why a judicial review should be held of the Serious Fraud Office's decision in December 2006 to cut short its investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent Al Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia. (132KB pdf)
by CAAT and The Corner House with Mark Thomas
compilation | published September 2007 | summary | PDF
On 23 September 2007, activist comedian Mark Thomas organised a comedy benefit night of Britain's top comedians to raise public awareness of the UK's Serious Fraud Office decision to drop its investigation into bribery allegations involving BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia and to support the legal challenge to this decision. This "secret file" programme was given to all those who attended. (971KB)
by Campaign Against Arms Trade and The Corner House
news | published November 2007 | summary | full document
On Friday 9 November 2007, two High Court judges granted permission to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House to bring a full judicial review hearing against the UK Government's decision in December 2006 to cut short a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
by The Corner House and CAAT
news | published November 2007 | summary | full document
At an oral hearing in the UK High Court on Friday 9 November 2007, lawyers for Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House will argue that permission should be granted for a full judicial review hearing against the UK Government's decision to cut short an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
by Larry Lohmann
presentation | published September 2007 | summary | PDF
Featuring photographs by Tamra Gilbertson, Nishant Male and Franceso Zizola, this slide show continues the series portraying the practical, on-the-ground effects of the trade in carbon credits through the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism and the voluntary "offset" market.
by Kevin Smith
article | published September 2007 | summary | PDF
Carbon trading, its backers claim, reduces emissions and brings sustainable development in the global South. But in fact it may do neither, and is harming efforts to create a low-carbon economy. A Chinese version is appended.
by Kevin Smith
report | published February 2007 | summary | PDF
Buying "carbon offsets" to "neutralize" your carbon emissions is all the rage in middle-class society in Europe and North America. This book, published by Carbon Trade Watch, explains why offsets are not a constructive approach to climate change.
by Kevin Smith
article | published May 2007 | summary | PDF
When will it be publicly admitted that the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme is not working?
by Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada
article | published October 2007 | summary | PDF
Sajida Khan, an environmental activist based in Durban, South Africa, who died in July 2007, dedicated her life to fighting international corporations and local municipalities over the pollution and environmental degradation of her community. An interview with Khan about her views on environmental justice and possible ways forward to create healthier livelihoods is included.
by Christopher Cundy
article | published May 2007 | summary | PDF
For carbon trading advocates, the onward march of "cap and trade" schemes seems unstoppable. But a growing chorus of critics believes otherwise.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published March 2007 | summary | PDF
This interview with a Brazilian science magazine touches on the nature of technical fixes for global warming, the US role in formulating the Kyoto Protocol, and how carbon trading is wasting time that could be better spent on other approaches to climate change. A Portuguese version is appended.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published November 2006 | summary | PDF
The debate over how serious global warming is hides a more important conflict over who is to own the earth's ability to regulate its climate. From this perspective, George Bush and supporters of the Kyoto Protocol are on the same side. Both are working to entrench the rights and privileges of big polluters.
by Larry Lohmann
presentation | published Spring 2007 | summary | PDF
Trading in carbon "offsets", which constitutes one part of carbon market arrangements such as the Kyoto Protocol, is ineffective and generally exacerbates local problems. This slide show offers some disturbing photographic evidence.
by Larry Lohmann
presentation | published Spring 2007 | summary | PDF
Emissions trading constitutes one part of carbon trading schemes such as those associated with the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the Kyoto Protocol. Emissions trading delays structural transition away from fossil fuels, hands out large assets to the biggest polluters, and cannot be enforced globally.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published February 2007 | summary | PDF
Corporations seeking a good image in an era of climate change will steer clear of "carbon offset" projects, which are mostly propping up polluting and oppressive industries in the South. Instead, they will push for structural, long-term social changes that can help keep coal, oil and gas in the ground.
by Soumitra Ghosh
article | published May 2007 | summary | PDF
The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism is claimed to "promote sustainable development" in the South at the same time it gives Northern industries licenses to continue polluting. But the skepticism with which countries with colonial pasts have always viewed such "aid" is also warranted here.
by Export Credits Guarantee Department
- | published March 2004 | summary | PDF
In response to a Freedom of Information request from The Corner House, the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) released a letter it had written on 4 March 2004 to the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company confirming that it had approved conditional support for several UK contracts for the Sakhalin II project.
by Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House
article | published August 2007 | summary | PDF
The Corner House's 'witness statement' (as part of its joint claim with WWF-UK for a judicial review of the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department's decision in March 2004 to support the Sakhalin II oil-and-gas project off the far eastern coast of Russia) summarises The Corner House's monitoring over several years of the ECGD's environmental, human rights and development policies; its engagement with ECGD on the Sakhalin II project since November 2002; and its concerns about the March 2004 decision.
by James Leaton, WWF-UK
- | published August 2007 | summary | PDF
WWF-UK's 'witness statement' (as part of its joint claim for a judicial review of the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department's decision in March 2004 to support the Sakhalin II oil-and-gas project off the far eastern coast of Russia) describes the project; outlines concerns about its impacts on the Western Gray Whale, fisheries, local communities, and climate change; summarises the flawed process of the Environmental Impact Assessment; and details how WWF-UK eventually learnt about the ECGD's decision to support Sakhalin II by means of a Freedom of Information request.
by WWF-UK and The Corner House
- | published August 2007 | summary | PDF
On 15 August 2007, The Corner House and conservation organisation WWF-UK filed papers at the High Court in a judicial review of the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department's decision in March 2004 to support the Sakhalin II oil-and-gas project off the far eastern coast of Russia.
by WWF-UK and The Corner House
news | published August 2007 | summary | full document
On 15 August 2007, WWF and The Corner House filed for a judicial review of a legally-binding, but until recently undisclosed, decision in March 2004 by the UK Government's Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) to support the Sakhalin II oil-and-gas project off the far eastern coast of Russia.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published July 2007 | summary | PDF
Under pressure to "tame" the threat of climate change to make it seem compatible with business as usual, many scientists have joined policymakers, economists and journalists in treating ignorance and uncertainty about climate as calculable "probabilities". Carbon traders, too, are forced to treat unknowns (and unknowables) as if they were calculable.
by Nicholas Hildyard
- | published April 2007 | summary | PDF
This Corner House 'witness statement' outlines the nexus between corruption and bribery, and international trade, economic investment, terrorism and national security, and provides background on legislative and other steps to combat corruption. It forms part of the claim for a judicial review against the UK Government's decision in December 2006 to terminate an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent Al Yamamah arms contracts with Saudi Arabia.
by The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade
- | published April 2007 | summary | PDF
On 18 April 2007, The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) filed papers at the High Court in a judicial review of the UK's Serious Fraud Office's decision in December 2006 to end its investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia.
by The Corner House and Kurdish Human Rights Project
report | published April 2007 | summary | PDF
In March 2007, the export credit agencies (ECAs)of Austria, Germany and Switzerland approved financial guarantees for the proposed Ilisu Dam on the River Tigris in the Kurdish region of Southeast Turkey. They stated that Turkey had provided the two downstream countries, Syria and Iraq, with the information these countries had sought about the Dam, and that Iraq had agreed to the project. Neither claim is true, according to Iraq's Minister of Water. By approving funding before Iraq and Syria had been consulted, the ECAs could be in violation of international law.
by Kavaljit Singh
report | published April 2007 | summary | PDF
This book details the central role of transnational corporations in determining foreign direct investment (FDI) patterns. Using case-studies, statistical data and cogent analysis, it makes a critical appraisal of contemporary investment issues as it maps investment flows, trends and regulatory frameworks. It shows how FDI can lead not to economic growth but to an outflow of capital instead of an inflow, prompting a growing backlash against foreign investments in many Latin American and Asian countries, and Russia.
by Larry Lohmann (editor)
report | published October 2006 | summary | PDF
The globe is warming. The more carbon dioxide pours into the air, the less stable the climate becomes and the more urgent it becomes to leave remaining fossil fuels in the ground. Yet the dominant neoliberal approach to the crisis -- carbon trading -- is failing. It is slowing social and technological change; dispossessing ordinary people in the South of their lands and futures; undermining already-existing positive approaches; and prolonging industrialised societies' dependence on fossil fuels. This book lays out the case and describes what can be done.
by CAAT and The Corner House
news | published January 2007 | full document
by National and international NGOs
news | published January 2007 | summary | full document | PDF
140 NGOs from 37 countries called upon Prime Minister Tony Blair to re-open the investigation of the Al Yamamah defence contract between BAE and Saudi Arabia government because of the impacts of corruption on democracy, sustainable development, human rights and poverty.
by UK Government Treasury Solitictor
news | published January 2007 | summary | PDF
The Treasury Solicitor confirmed that the Government intended to respond by 19 January 2007.
by The Corner House and CAAT
news | published January 2007 | summary | PDF
Corner House Research and Campaign Against Arms Trade agreed to the Treasury Solicitor's request for an extension of time to respond to the 18 December 2006 letter sent on behalf of The Corner House and CAAT, provided that he confirmed that the groups would receive a response by 19 January 2007.
by UK Government Treasury Solicitor
news | published December 2006 | summary | PDF
The UK Government's Treasury Solicitor replied that the Government would endeavour to provide a substantive reponse by 19 January 2007 to the 18 December 2006 letter sent on behalf of The Corner House and CAAT.
by CAAT and The Corner House
news | published December 2006 | full document | PDF
On 18 December 2006, The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) began a legal challenge to the decision to drop the investigation into bribery allegations involving BAE Systems Plc in Saudi Arabia.
| published January 1970
by Larry Lohmann
article | published December 2006 | summary | full document | PDF
Far from being a solution to global warming, carbon trading is little more than licence for big polluters to carry on business as usual, says Larry Lohmann in this 'Comment and analysis' article in New Scientist magazine.
by The Corner House
paper | published May/June 2006 | summary | PDF
The Corner House interviewed by the US magazine, Multinational Monitor, on export credit agencies and corruption.
by Larry Lohmann (editor)
report | published October 2006 | summary | PDF
Chapter 5 of the book, "Carbon Trading", dissects and sets aside the claim that "there is no alternative to carbon trading". It cites conventional regulation, public works, legal action, green taxes, popular movements against fossil fuel use, and the shifting of subsidies away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy. For a more democratic and effective climate politics, the debate over climate needs to be conducted not only by corporations, ministries, specialists and big NGOs but by a wider public as well.
by Larry Lohmann (editor)
report | published October 2006 | summary | PDF
Chapter 4 of the book, "Carbon Trading", describes how supposedly carbon-'saving' projects set up in countries of the South to 'compensate' for continued fossil fuel use are helping to disposses ordinary people of their land, water, air -- and their futures. Projects to plant trees, burn methane from waste dumps, improve efficiency and promote renewable energy are described in ten countries, together with the tensions and conflicts created.
by Larry Lohmann (editor)
report | published October 2006 | summary | PDF
Chapter 3 of the book, "Carbon Trading", explains why carbon trading -- one of the largest world markets ever created -- is ineffective in dealing with the climate crisis. It demonstrates that the experience of the United States in pollution trading is an argument against, rather than for, making carbon markets the centrepiece of action on global warming. It explores property rights and privatisation; emissions trading vs. structural change; and the special problems of carbon projects.
by Larry Lohmann (editor)
report | published October 2006 | summary | PDF
Chapter 2 of the book, "Carbon Trading", tells the extraordinary story of how corporations, academics, governments, United Nations agencies and environmentalists united around a neoliberal or 'market' approach to climate change emanating from North America. They made pollution trading -- a little-tested, highly-theoretical instrument designed merely to save industrial polluters money in the short-term -- the centrepiece of international efforts to tackle climate change.
by Larry Lohmann (editor)
report | published October 2006 | summary | PDF
Chapter 1 of the book, "Carbon Trading", traces the growing climate crisis to the mining of coal, oil and gas, and describes the growing political conflict over how to divide up the world's capacity to clean its atmosphere. It outlines the dangers of the crisis to people's survival and livelihoods, explores the political nature and implications of the problem, and sketches reasonable and unreasonable solutions. The flow of fossil carbon out of the ground, it points out, has to be slowed and ultimately halted.
by Elizabeth L. Krause
briefing | published July 2006 | summary | PDF
Supposedly scientific demographic reports and alarms about low birthrates, ageing and immigration in Italy, and the catastrophic societal consequences that are predicted to flow from them, enable racism by stimulating a climate of fear and anxiety toward immigrants. They reinforce xenophobic notions in which racism is "coded as culture" rather than on supposedly objective somatic or visual differences.
by The Corner House, Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), WWF-UK
submission | published February 2006 | summary | PDF
Any ECGD support for the Anglo-Dutch petrochemical multinational Shell to develop two oil and gas fields off Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East would breach international guidelines and conflict with the UK's sustainable development commitments and its international environmental obligations.
by Richard Minns with Sarah Sexton
briefing | published May 2006 | summary | full document | PDF
This briefing outlines the different ways in which countries have financed both social security for older people and economic production. It describes the rise of the private model of pensions and the influence of pension funds on capital flows around the world. It then summarises and critiques the main justifications given for expanding private pension schemes, and analyses the motivations of the groups that perpetuate this model.
by Kurdish Human Rights Project, Ilisu Dam Campaign, The Corner House
report | published July 2002 | summary | PDF
In 2001, a delegation from three UK NGOs went to Syria and Iraq to conduct research and interviews on the potential downstream impacts of the proposed Ilisu Dam, scheduled for construction in southeast Turkey. The Fact-Finding Mission concluded that the Dam (and the wider GAP project of more dams and power plants) poses a real threat to future water supplies in Syria and Iraq, and urges the international community to press Turkey to halt further GAP projects until an agreement has been reached with Syria and Iraq that secures sustainable development of the Euphrates and Tigris.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published December 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
This book chapter explores the connections between the dark, often racist, scare stories of Malthusianism over the past 200 years, and the reliance of the stories on a particular economic model about how society must be analysed and organised.
by Susan Hawley for ECA-Watch
submission | published March 2006 | summary | full document | PDF
The OECD's Working Group on Bribery regard ECAs as essential to combating bribery and believe that ECA procedures to do so could be significantly improved. The Group's reviews of various OECD countries emphasise the importance of ECAs having proper procedures in place to detect and report bribery suspicions to law enforcement agencies, and to exclude companies convicted of corruption from further export credit support.
by Susan Hawley
paper | published February 2006 | summary | full document | PDF
The OECD Working Group on Bribery's reviews of how countries are implementing the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention are an invaluable source of information about practice in different countries in combating bribery. This paper pulls together all the Group's comments and recommendations about public procurement, and summarises the procedures countries have developed to exclude companies convicted of bribery from public procurement.
by Susan Hawley
presentation | published November 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
Northern institutions have a significant impact on corruption in developing countries, particularly in the form of bribery by Northern companies and money laundering by Northern banks of the proceeds of corruption. Northern states have been directly and indirectly complicit in these activities, primarily by turning a blind eye and failing to take action. If corruption is be tackled internationally, the Northern state itself needs to be redesigned.
by Susan Hawley
submission | published December 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
There need to be considerable improvements to the UK's enforcement regime to combat corruption and money laundering. Laws on non tax-deductibility of bribes are not being adequately enforced. The UK government should take further measures to raise awareness of bribery; introduce preventative measures and new corruption legislation; and establish a fair and workable debarment system.
by Brian Tokar
article | published February 2006 | summary | full document
An accessible article from "Z Magazine" describing the key issues of global climate change discussed at last year's climate negotiations in Montreal.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published January 2006 | summary | full document | PDF
Carbon markets are not helping to phase out fossil fuels and are thus not helping to tackle global warming, this article for Foreign Policy in Focus argues.
by Sarah Sexton and Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published May 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
By analysing who is considered 2too many" as Malthus's theory of population has been put to different uses, the presentation shows that population theory is in practice a political strategy employed to obscure relationships of power between different groups in societies. These relationships are critical to the use of "resources" as they determine how people are managed and in whose interests.
by Sarah Sexton
presentation | published September 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
It is difficult to obtain enough human eggs from women for cloning research. This article explores the problems encountered; whether women should be paid for their eggs; the growing international trade in women's eggs; the concept of informed consent and choice; and the public money pouring into cloning research.
by The Corner House and RAID
submission | published January 2006 | summary | full document | PDF
The OECD "Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises" are a set of voluntary principles and standards to which multinationals are expected to adhere. Since 2000, NGOs and others can submit complaints against OECD-based companies to OECD government offices set up to promote adherence to the Guidelines. This document is a submission to the UK Government's assessment of the Guidelines' implementation in the UK.
by Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published December 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
International finance institutions promise that the projects they back will comply with international environmental and social standards -- but these standards are frequently flouted. NGOs can document such violations so as to bring concerns to decision-makers, the wider public and the courts.
by Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published June 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
"Scarcity" -- not enough food or water or land and so on -- does not explain what it says it explains. Hunger, for example, is rarely the result of no food at all, but of not enough food in a certain place for certain people because those with more power deny them access to it. This may be conceded, but the claim that there will not be enough food in future because of future population growth still seems plausible. Future resources crises, however, will caused by the same imbalances of power as they are today.
by Nicholas Hildyard and Greg Muttit
article | published February 2006 | summary | full document | PDF
Many corporations now rely on bilateral and regional treaties to get what they want in other countries. Some companies are using Host Government Agreements to set up a specific legal framework giving them effective control over national legislation and regulations affecting their activities. Oil and gas companies are using Production Sharing Agreements to gain almost complete control over natural resources in the countries of the former Soviet Union and West Africa and in Iraq.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published December 2005 | summary | PDF
The new export market in biological carbon-cycling capacity is likely to have effects similar to export markets in soya, paper pulp, petroleum, timber, palm oil, maize, bananas, coffee or tourism. What are the best ways of encouraging discussion among affected communities about this new form of globalisation? asks this article for the World Rainforest Movement Bulletin.
by Dr Susan Hawley
submission | published November 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
On 21 October 2005, the ECGD announced several proposed changes to its anti-corruption procedures. This document outlines The Corner House's concerns about these proposals, particularly the weak audit clause and the non-requirement to supply the identity of agents.
by The Corner House
news | published October 2005 | full document
On 21st October 2005, the ECGD announced its provisional response to the public consultation on its anti-corruption procedures. The ECGD proposes to take some steps towards re-strengthening its procedures, but has still stopped short in some key areas.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published September 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
The Kyoto Protocol and kindred carbon trading measures are usually presented as a small but indispensable step forward to mitigate climate change. Are they? Or, as this article for the journal Science as Culture asks, do they amount to a stumble backwards and a block to the emergence of more constructive approaches?
by Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada (editors)
report | published October 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
This book, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, outlines some of the practical threats to public well-being and climatic stability that arise from the growing fashion for carbon trading. It focuses on the disturbing record of South African "carbon-saving" projects and their role in shoring up a destructive oil economy.
by ECA-Watch
submission | published September 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
This submission to the OECD Working Group on Export Credits and Credit Guarantees argues that a strong new OECD Action Statement on Combating Bribery in Officially Supported Export Credits should be agreed in October 2005 and recomends key anti-bribery measures to be incorporated into it.
by Dr Susan Hawley
paper | published June 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
This submission to the EU Council Working Group on Trade details how the OECD Action Statement on Combating Bribery in Officially Supported Export Credits should be strengthened and how European Export Credit Agencies should improve their anti-bribery procedures.
by Larry Lohmann
paper | published September 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
Seeing social or technical change as the application of new "theory" to "practice" is one of the hazards of 21st-century middle-class life. Middle-class activists could take a leaf from both expert elites and grassroots movements, who both tend to know better.
by ECA-Watch
report | published September 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
Northern governments may grant more export credits for large dams by classifying them as "renewable energy". This report details the negative impacts of five large dams and one water privatisation scheme financed with export credits.
by Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published May 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
Infrastructure development is the point at which many conflicts, both past and future, over resources and decision-making meet. Several projects proposed or being implemented in Turkey illustrate these points.
by The Corner House and others
submission | published June 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
In June 2005, several trade unions and NGOs signed a joint statement calling on the UK government to take immediate steps to meet its international obligations on corruption by taking 12 detailed actions.
by Dr Susan Hawley
submission | published September 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
This document outlines ways in which the UK Government can implement a new EU Procurement Directive requiring Member States to exclude companies and individuals convicted of corruption from being awarded public procurement contracts.
by Dr Susan Hawley
submission | published June 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
In January 2005, the UK's export credit agency, ECGD, announced a public consultation into its weakened anti-corruption procedures, introduced following industry lobbying. This submission to that consultation argues that the ECGD should revert to its revised procedures if it is to prevent bribery in the projects that it supports.
by Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House, UK; and Eliah Gilfenbaum, Environmental Defense, USA
paper | published September 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
This paper documents new subsidies that ECAs may give for large dams; evaluates the accompanying standards that ECAs may require for dam projects; and identifies future ECA actions if funding for dams is not to have negative environmental and social impacts.
by Sarah Sexton, Nicholas Hildyard and Larry Lohmann
presentation | published April 2005 | summary | full document | PDF
Far-right groups in Britain are increasingly using environmental and social justice concerns to argue against immigration. This is part of a clear political strategy to make racist ideas and goals seem more respectable. Whether they like it or not, environmentalists are therefore being increasingly drawn into debates on immigration, refugees and asylum seekers. To counter this strategy, environmental groups need to link with those who have to deal with racism every day as a matter of strategy, process and structure.
by Dr Susan Hawley
review | published March 2005 | summary | full document
In March 2005, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published an extensive review of how the UK is implementing the OECD's Anti-Bribery Convention. This document analyses the review's main findings.
by Dr Susan Hawley
submission | published February 2005 | summary | full document
At the beginning of 2005, the UK Parliament's Trade and Industry Select Committee conducted an inquiry into the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD). As part of this, in February 2005 it interviewed the government Minister responsible for the ECGD about the Department's watering down of its anti-bribery procedures following industry lobbying. In March 2005, the Committee published a report that was highly critical of the changes the Department had made to its procedures. This document is The Corner House's submission to the Committee's inquiry.
by Anne Hendrixson
briefing | published December 2004 | summary | full document | PDF
'Youth-bulge' theory refers to the large proportion of the world's population under 27 years old who are supposedly prone to violence. Images of angry young men of colour as potential terrorists and veiled young women as victims of repressive regimes support the theory. The implied threat of explosive violence and explosive fertility provides a rationale for US military intervention and population control initiatives in other countries and justifies government surveillance of Muslims and Arabs within US borders.
by The Corner House
news | published January 2005 | summary | full document
In December 2004, The Corner House began legal proceedings against the Export Credits Guarantee Department, claiming it had weakened its anti-corruption rules after consulting corporations only. It was awarded the first-ever full "protective costs order" to challenge the changed rules: The Corner House would not have to pay the Department's legal costs, even if it lost, because the challenge was in the public interest.
by Joseph Hanlon
briefing | published October 2004 | summary | full document | PDF
Northern aid donors demand that Southern countries tackle corruption, but continue to require them to implement economic liberalisation policies that increase corruption. In Mozambique, corruption has grown to high levels because of increasing intervention by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and bilateral aid donors in support of liberalisation, facilitated by tacit alliances between donors and a section of the Mozambican elite.
by The Corner House, SinksWatch and Carbon Trade Watch
paper | published October 2004 | summary | full document | PDF
International carbon trading systems are failing. They are both climatically ineffective and politically infeasible.
by Dr Susan Hawley
paper | published July 2004 | summary | full document | PDF
Enforcement of overseas corruption offences involving British companies and individuals under the UK's anti-corruption legislation is crucial to tackling corruption internationally. The current arrangements in the UK between various law enforcement agencies are not the most effective means of ensuring that these offences are investigated and prosecuted. A more pro-active enforcement regime could detect overseas corruption offences as and when they occur and could act on credible suspicions of bribery.
by Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite
briefing | published September 2004 | summary | full document | PDF
When TRIPS was signed in 1994, the United States, Europe and Japan dominated the world's software, pharmaceutical, chemical and entertainment industries. The rest of the world had little to gain by agreeing to these terms of trade for intellectual property. They did so because a failure of democratic processes nationally and internationally enabled a small group of men within the United States to capture the US trade-agenda-setting process, to draft intellectual property principles that became the blueprint for TRIPS and to crush resistance through US trade power.
by Sumati Nair and Preeti Kirbat with Sarah Sexton
briefing | published June 2004 | summary | full document | PDF
This briefing evaluates the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development. It assesses several processes that affect women's reproductive and sexual rights and health: the decline and collapse in health services; neo-liberal economic policies and religious fundamentalisms; and development policies underpinned by neo-Malthusianism.
by Kirstine Drew, UNICORN, Public Services International Research Unit
seminar | published May 2002 | summary | full document
The UK Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has a legal obligation to combat corruption. But its failure to adopt non-discretionary, transparent procedures is fundamentally flawed.
by Alan Simpson MP and Nicholas Hildyard
article | published January/February 1999 | summary | full document
This article argues that companies seeking public money in the form of grants or subsidies should put forward proposals which can be subject to public scrutiny and accountability.
by Nicholas Hildyard
talk | published June 1998 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
article | published May 2000 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
talk | published 1996 | summary | full document
by Sarah Sexton
presentation | published 9-11 May 2003 | summary | full document
The World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) could have a significant effect on human health, and health care services.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published September 1995 | summary | full document
by Kurdish Human Rights Project
article | published November 1999 | summary | full document
Report based on a five-day NGO fact finding mission in September 1999 to areas potentially affected by the proposed Ilisu dam, documents a wide range of human rights and environmental concerns. The Corner House was lead author of the report.
by Philip Williams & Associates
article | published August 2001 | summary | PDF
by Ilisu Dam Campaign; the Kurdish Human Rights Project; The Corner House; World Economy, Ecology and Development; Eye on SACE Campaign and Pacific Environment Research Center
article | published 9-16 October 2000 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published July 1995 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
article | published 1995 | summary | full document
by Sarah Sexton
article | published November 1993 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
talk | published April 2002 | summary | full document
The Kyoto Protocol is not a step forward in the struggle to stabilise climate, but a stumble sideways into spurious science and the privatization of the atmosphere.
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published 30 May - 2 June 2000 | summary | full document
“Moral dilemmas” are not unattached to political, bureaucratic, social and economic interests. They are deeply political and are products of everyday conflicts over meaning, resources and ways of living and power. Who raises a particular moral dilemma and why is thus of critical importance.
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published March 1993 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
article | published July 1993 | summary | full document
Effective political struggle in intercultural space means creatively weaving in and out of all the cultures present.
by Nicholas Hildyard
seminar | published 1996 | summary | full document
by Ilisu Dam Campaign Refugees Project, The Corner House and Peace in Kurdistan
article | published November 2003 | summary | full document
UK companies, taxpayers and the government support many human rights abuses that can accompany British investment abroad and that can ultimately force people to flee their homes and their countries.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published 1999 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
article | published 1996 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House; Pandurang Hegde, Appiko Movement; Paul Wolvekamp, Both Ends; and Somasekhare Reddy, Indian Institute of Management
paper | published 9-12 December 1997 | summary | full document
Participation, forests and environment all mean different things to different people and different interest groups. This presentation analyses the discourse on participation, as reflected in conflicts over forest resources and more widely. It highlights examples where participation is being used to soften resistance to projects or to engineer consent.
by Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published Summer 1995 | summary | full document
A presentation looking at the forces which have degraded the earth and which now propose to manage its recovery through processes such as “sustainable development”.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published January 2002 | summary | full document
Multilateral agencies have been promoting the commoditization of land in the Mekong region. How is this project being advanced and resisted?
by Sarah Sexton
review | published June 2000 | summary | full document
A review The Malthus Factor: Poverty, Politics and Population in Capitalist Development by Eric B. Ross, published by Zed Books, London in 1998
by Sarah Sexton
article | published June 2002 | summary | full document
Economics, rather than improved health, is the underlying rationale for public and private support of human genetic research and technologies.
by Larry Lohmann
review | published January 1993 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published July 1996 | summary | full document
by Michael Bartlet, Religious Society of Friends
article | published May 2002 | summary | full document
The ECGD's support for defence-related exports has lost money every year for the past 12 years. This strongly suggests that arms sales are being deliberately subsidised.
by Sean Scannell, The Ilisu Dam Campaign
report | published May 2002 | summary | full document
Summary of NGO seminar held in UK parliament to discuss Export Credit Agency reform.
by The Corner House
article | published 1998 | summary | full document
There are at least 10 good reasons why the widespread adoption of genetic engineering in agriculture will lead to more hungry people, not fewer.
by Nicholas Hildyard
talk | published June 1996 | summary | full document
Transnational companies develop extensive networks so they can fashion the political infrastructure that permits them to capture subsidies, manage demand, create new markets, centralize power, enclose new environments, and evade, digest and regulate resistance.
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published November 1996 | summary | full document
by Judith Richter with Sarah Sexton
article | published April 1996 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
article | published April 1994 | summary | full document
Westerners wanting to engage in effective international campaigning often will need to question their very conceptions of what social movements are.
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published July 1996 | summary | full document
by Sarah Sexton
article | published July/August 2002 | summary | full document
The great majority of the world's diseases are caused by environmental, not genetic, conditions. A frenzied search for genetic therapies could steal resources from billions in order to serve only a few.
by Nicholas Hildyard
talk | published November 1998 | summary | full document
A summary of the ecological risks of genetic engineering in agriculture and suggestions for resisting its introduction.
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published 1997 | summary
by Larry Lohmann
article | published November 1993 | summary | full document
by Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project, and Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House
article | published June 2004 | summary | full document
Since October 2000, the UK Export Credits Guarantees Department (ECGD) has been bound by the UK Human Rights Act. But many of the ECGD's procedures potentially conflict with this Act.
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published July 2002 | summary | full document
by Rob Cartridge, Campaigns Director, War on Want
article | published May 2002 | summary | full document
Protecting workers' rights is central to alleviating poverty. The UK Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) should require all applicants to have policies for achieving core labour standards.
by The Ilisu Dam Campaign and The Corner House
article | published September 2000 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published February 1993 | summary | full document
by Ruth Hubbard and Elijah Wald with Nicholas Hildyard
article | published September 1993 | summary | full document
by Sarah Sexton
presentation | published 24-27 May 2001 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
article | published July 1993 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard (traduction: C. Bertrand)
briefing | published January 1999 | summary | full document
by The Corner House
report | published 8-10 October 1999 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
presentation | published 18-20 October 2000 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
talk | published June 1998 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
presentation | published 7-9 April 2000 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
talk | published 1998 | summary | full document
A presentation looking at whose interests the free market serves and whose environment is protected by market instruments such as labelling and property rights which concludes that leaving the environment to the market is a recipe for social injustice, authoritarianism, neo-colonialism and ecological suicide.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published March 1998 | summary | full document
All development projects follow a three-act dramatic plotline, as development agencies try to impose plans, meet local opposition, and improvise freely in an attempt to overcome resistance.
by Larry Lohmann
talk | published February 2000 | summary | full document | PDF
by Sarah Sexton
presentation | published 9-10 February 2001 | summary | full document
by The Corner House, Ilisu Dam Campaign, Kurdish Human Rights Project, Friends of the Earth, Berne Declaration, Campaign An Eye on SACE, Pacific Environment, World Economy, Ecology and Development (WEED)
article | published September 2001 | summary | full document
by Concerned NGOs
note | published July 2000 | summary | full document
by Sarah Sexton
article | published December 2000 | summary | full document
by The Ilisu Dam Campaign
article | published May 2001 | summary | PDF
by Nicholas Hildyard, Sarah Sexton and Larry Lohmann
article | published 1993 | summary | full document
by Kate Hampton, Friends of the Earth
seminar | published May 2002 | summary | full document
In 2001, governments agreed that export credit agencies should support the transfer of climate-friendly technologies. Urgent institutional reform is needed if Britain is to fulfil its commitment.
by Larry Lohmann
presentation | published 1997 | summary | full document
by Global Witness
presentation | published May 2002 | summary | full document
Publicly-traded companies involved in resource exploitation should be required to publish a breakdown of all payments which they make for the products of every country in which they operate.
by Romilly Greenhill and Ann Petifor, Jubilee Research
seminar | published May 2002 | summary | full document
Export Credit Agencies have created unsustainable debt in developing countries. Despite reforms, arms sales and other ECA-backed deals continue build up debt without contributing to development.
by Chris Lang, Nick Hildyard, Kate Geary and Matthew Grainger
report | published February 2000 | summary | full document
by Dr Susan Hawley
article | published June 2003 | summary | full document | PDF
Institutional practices within the taxpayer-funded UK Export Credits Guarantee Department have exacerbated bribery and corruption by Western companies.
by Larry Lohmann
talk | published October 1998 | summary | full document
Overconsumption is possible only by dividing different groups of people from each other. A different, more democratic pattern of political action will be required to lower consumption.
by Nicholas Hildyard, Larry Lohmann, Sarah Sexton and Simon Fairlie
paper | published 1995 | summary | full document
by Sarah Sexton
presentation | published 1-2 December 2001 | summary | full document
An analysis of the changing language used in discussions of human embryo cloning.
by The Corner House
submission | published January 2002 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard
article | published February 1998 | summary | full document
by Ann Feltham, Campaign Against Arms Trade
seminar | published May 2002 | summary | full document
Arms sales currently take up a disproportionate amount of official export credit support. The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) and other Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) should end support for military goods.
by Larry Lohmann
article | published December 1999 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard and Mark Mansley
report | published July 2001 | summary | PDF
The Guide includes a comprehensive directory of the best web sites and library resources for researching companies and the sectors in which they operate.
by Barry Coates and Daniela Reale, World Development Movement
seminar | published May 2002 | summary | full document
The UK government's Export Credits Guarantees Department (ECGD) supports British exporters. Using public money to support private businesses is only justified if it has a demonstrable public purpose.
by Nicholas Hildyard
talk | published January 2000 | summary | full document
This presentation challenges four myths about large dams: that they provide a cheap and economic source of energy; that they are an environmentally-benign source of energy; that they are uncontroversial in Europe; and that they result from impartial decision-making processes. It poses several detailed questions for the World Commission on Dams.
by Larry Lohmann
review | published December 2000 | summary | full document
Review of Culture and the Question of Rights: Forests, Coasts, and Seas in Southeast Asia, Charles Zerner, (ed.,) Duke University Press, 2001
by Dr Susan Hawley, The Corner House
seminar | published May 2002 | summary | full document
The UK Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has a long record of backing corrupt projects. New vetting procedures have loopholes, leaving the ECGD open to charges of complicity in corruption.
by The Corner House
submission | published December 2000 | summary | full document
by Dr Pasuk Phongpaichit
briefing | published December 2003 | summary | full document | PDF
Corruption in Thailand has been neither pervasive nor incompatible with economic growth. It is centred on a big business-politics complex whose rise has gone hand-in-hand with globalisation.
by Dr Susan Hawley
briefing | published December 2003 | summary | full document | PDF
The taxpayer-backed export credit agencies of industrialised countries are underwriting the bribery and corruption of large, mainly Western, companies operating abroad.
by Sarah Sexton
briefing | published July 2001 | summary | full document | PDF
by Mike Davis
briefing | published December 2002 | summary | full document | PDF
A revised understanding of nineteenth cenutry famines illuminates many current challenges of 'development' and questions the wisdom of development policies still pursued today.
by Larry Lohmann
briefing | published October 2001 | summary | full document | PDF
by David Campbell
briefing | published January 2001 | summary | full document | PDF
by Larry Lohmann
briefing | published March 2003 | summary | full document | PDF
Disputes about human population increase are less about numbers than about rights, as is suggested by an analysis of the historical context in which Malthus wrote his first story about overpopulation.
by Mark Mansley and Nicholas Hildyard
briefing | published January 2002 | summary | full document | PDF
Lobbying financial markets has become a major way of halting or lessening the impact of environmentally-damaging and socially-inequitable projects. This briefing provides several case studies, traces the rise of ethical shareholding, and explores the limits and potential pitfalls of financial market activism.
by Judith Richter
briefing | published February 2002 | summary | full document | PDF
by Viola Sampson and Larry Lohmann
briefing | published December 2000 | summary | full document | PDF
by Eric B. Ross
briefing | published July 2000 | summary | full document | PDF
The goal of Thomas Malthus, the 19th century originator of a theory about population, was to absolve the state and wealthier segments of society from responsibility for poverty. The briefing explores the theory’s subsequent uses in eugenic, anti-immigration, environmental, Cold War and Green Revolution interests. It explores how population thinking is used today in discussions of globalisation, violent conflict, immigration and the environment.
by Dr Susan Hawley
briefing | published June 2000 | summary | full document | PDF
by Stephen J. Pyne with Larry Lohmann
briefing | published February 2000 | summary | full document
by Larry Lohmann
briefing | published July 1999 | summary | full document
This briefing questions the view that tree plantations are a viable way of mitigating the climatic effects of industrial carbon-dioxide emissions. This “solution” to global warming is based on bad science, enlarges society’s ecological footprint, and reinforces neo-colonialist structures of power.
by Nicholas Hildyard
briefing | published June 1999 | summary | full document
Projects backed by export credit agencies are frequently environmentally destructive, socially oppressive or financially unviable. It is the poorest in these countries who end up paying the bill. With rare exceptions, the major ECAs lack mandatory environmental and development standards, and are secretive and unaccountable.
by Larry Lohmann
briefing | published January 1999 | summary | full document
Some strains of environmentalism treat “cultures” as fixed, closed systems with impermeable boundaries. Racism is neither a theory nor a collection of beliefs, sentiments or intentions, but rather a process of social control which functions to block inquiry and attempts to live with difference. Illustrated with a case study from Northern Thailand.
by Sarah Sexton
briefing | published October 1999 | summary | full document | PDF
Most discussions about human embryo cloning focus on ethics and potential health benefits. In the process, the many social, economic and environmental aspects of health and disease are increasingly hidden, while issues such as how the potential benefits of biotech would be obtained and distributed are sidelined. It has therefore become hard to raise key questions about the increased geneticisation of our lives and societies.
by Alan Simpson, MP, and Nicholas Hildyard and Sarah Sexton
briefing | published September 1997 | summary | full document
Living organisms can now be patented as “inventions” if they are the result of genetic engineering techniques or of the transfer of genes between totally unrelated species of plants, animals and micro-organisms. Yet patents can hinder research, legalise biopiracy and restrict both competition and people’s access to health treatment.
by Frank Barnaby
briefing | published November 1997 | summary | full document
by Aubrey Meyer and Nicholas Hildyard
briefing | published December 1997 | summary | full document
by Nicholas Hildyard, Pandurang Hegde, Paul Wolverkamp and Somersekhave Reddy
briefing | published February 1998 | summary | full document
by Frank Barnaby
briefing | published December 1999 | summary | full document
Plutonium is radioactive by-product of nuclear reactors and one of the most toxic substances known. The nuclear industry argues that producing mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel would reduce plutonium stockpiles. It is unlikely to do so and instead would encourage the risk of nuclear terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons.
by Nicholas Hildyard
briefing | published March 1998 | summary | full document
by Judith Richter
briefing | published March 1998 | summary | full document
Corporations use public relations techniques to limit campaigns against the socially-irresponsible or environmentally-destructive practices of transnational companies. Taking the infant food industry as a case study, this briefing discusses the risks of ‘dialogue’ with company or industry organizations.
by Larry Lohmann
briefing | published May 1998 | summary | full document
Opinion polls and cost-benefit analysis, like public relations, attempt to construct new, simplified “publics” which are friendly to bureaucracies, politicians and corporations. The success of these attempts is limited by popular resistance at many levels.
by Nicholas Hildyard
briefing | published August 1998 | summary | full document
Popular opposition and changing macro-economic policies have disproved the claim that large-scale hydrolectric dams provide a cheap, reliable and economic source of power.
by Larry Lohmann
briefing | published August 1998 | summary | full document
by Sarah Sexton, Nicholas Hildyard and Larry Lohmann
briefing | published October 1998 | summary | full document
The biotechnology industry claims that genetic engineering in agriculture is necessary to feed a growing world population. Yet, far from preventing world starvation, genetic engineering threatens to exacerbate the social and ecological causes of hunger by forcing farmers to pay for their right to fertile seeds, threatening crop yields, undermining biodiversity and reducing the access of poorer people to food.
by Nicholas Hildyard
briefing | published January 1999 | summary | full document
by Mark Duffield
briefing | published January 1999 | summary | full document
Many internal wars in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, far from representing societal breakdown, can be seen as a rational response on the part of rulers (and would-be rulers) to ensure their economic and political survival in a context of globalisation and the changing nation-state.
by The Corner House
editorial | published May 2004 | full document
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by The Corner House
about | published May 2004 | summary | full document
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about | published May 2004 | summary | full document
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about | published May 2004 | summary | full document
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