The Chair of Corporate Theory is pleased to invite you to the next session of the seminar "Corporate Responsibility and Civilization 

The regulation of transnational corporations, beyond the distinction between business law and environmental law 

With Aude-Solveig Epstein

Lecturer at the University of Paris Nanterre

In Europe, environmental protection has long been seen as the province of environmental law. At the same time, the latter has been conceived globally as an autonomous discipline, applicable only to activities located on national territory. However, the relocation of the production of most environmental risks to developing countries raises questions about this model, especially since many of the environmental damages thus relocated will later come back as a boomerang, like greenhouse gases that warm the global atmosphere wherever they are emitted.

A number of legal tools have therefore been developed to promote the accountability of large European companies, which are called upon to green their entire transnational value chain, beyond what local environmental legislation actually prescribes. However, these tools remain for the moment more of an incentive than a direct constraint. Would it be legitimate and possible to go further by creating the conditions for real legal responsibility of large European companies for the environmental damage they make possible and from which they benefit? The presentation will examine this question by highlighting the fruitfulness of an analysis integrating the dual viewpoint of business law and environmental law.

Aude-Solveig Epstein holds a doctorate in law from the University of Nice entitled "Environmental information and business: Contribution to the legal analysis of a regulation". The thesis analyses the rise of a new form of regulation of the environmental impacts of companies, which is essentially based on obligations to produce and disseminate information on the impacts of companies and on their environmental performance objectives.  She is a qualified lecturer in public and private law at the University of Paris Nanterre, and is also a member of the Centre for Civil Law and Business Litigation (CEDCACE).  She is currently Visiting Professor of Legal Studies at New York University Abu Dhabi.

This conference will be held remotely. Please register with chaire-te@mines-paristech.fr.