Human rights dimensions of corporate environmental accountability

This chapter focuses on the impact of environmental human rights on foreign investors' operations and the role of intergovernmental organizations in ensuring that such operations respect internationally agreed minimum standards. In the context of international practice related to corporate environmental accountability, the chapter scrutinizes the preventive role of intergovernmental organizations vis-à-vis foreign investors' actual or potential negative impacts on environmental human rights in the country in which they are operating. It explores the growing international practice spearheaded by international organizations of ?translating? inter-state obligations into normative benchmarks adapted to the reality of private operators, mainly foreign investors, based upon the interpretation and implementation of a combination of international soft and hard law instruments. The contribution therefore assesses the relevance for foreign investment of corporate environmental accountability.