The cases presented here (links at right side) were researched by Friends of the Earth's groups and other environmental NGO's who are concerned about corporations behavior. The cases show European companies that are acting in contradiction to their own or their home country's rules or principles.

Refinery hazards justified by playgrounds
Shell and BP's subsidiary SAPREF is probably the most accident-prone facility in South Africa. The long list of leaks, spills, fires and malfunctions at this facility include the leak of more than one million litres of petrol into the soil under residents' homes in mid- 2001. The claims from community groups and environmental NGO's has been met with no action or ridiculus talkshows from SAPREF's side.

Autocompanies run over rules and law
The two multinationals Toyota Motor Corporation and PSA Peugeot Citroën are known worldwide for their active approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. The GARDE(1) who is part of the Environmental Law Service(2) have performed a preliminary legal analysis of the implementation of the TPCA automobile plant project in Kolin, Czech Republic, and have reached the opinion that the company is not meeting the voluntary commitments it has declared and that the legal code of the Czech Republic, as well as the OECD guidelines for multinationals, has been violated during the construction during implementation of the construction plan.

No Environmental Justice for Communities
More then half of the tropical timber entering the EU is likely to be illegally sourced(3). This is often difficult to prove but even when clear evidence exists it can show to be impossible to seek and obtain justice for the victims in the exploited area. FOE France and Associacion Sherpa documentations show that the affected farmers and their families in Cameroon are captured between Cameroonian corruption and French bureaucracy.

Village threatened by coalmine
In Heuersdorf in Germany the remaining 150 people in the village are fighting for their right to not be removed from their homes and lands in order to give place to an open coal mine. Climate Change is often described as the most serious and urgent challenge for the society today. Yet companies operating in the middle of Europe cannot be hold responsible for activities highly contributing to more outlets of carbon dioxide, damaging the environment and destroying a village.

Water - at what cost?
The biggest privatisation of water in the world happened in Manilla, the Phillippines, 1997. Seven years after one can conclude the failure of Suez and Ondeo to provide especially the poor parts of the city with water.

Chemical company greenwashes its image
Bayer is the third biggest manufacturer of herbicides globally, and dominates the insecticides market. Insecticides are responsible for the majority of pesticide poisoning in Third World countries. This article shows that Bayer is breaking the FAO code of cunduct, to which the company has signed up through its branchorganisation CropLife. Meanwhile the company benefits from its membership in the UN Global Compact.

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1.Global Alliance for Responsibility, Democracy, and Equity
2. A public-interest non- governmental organization
3. Friends of the Earth International, towards binding corporate accountability, 2002.