2. Corporate Environmental Responsibility in the EU

The goal of this chapter is to examine the main regulatory interventions made by the EU officials over the course of the previous decades which shaped the current framework of corporate environmental responsibility (CER). We analyzed how from the Paris 1972 convention, where environmental protection was first raised, the issue evolved into specific principles set by the European community in terms of environmental protection. Later on, EU officials moved into more concrete regulations on environmental responsibility. These regulations were targeting key issues such as climate changes, water management, air pollution, resource allocation, chemical reduction and even sustainable production and consumption. The results of these efforts was that European corporations have steadily abided to these regulations and the overall shift of behavior into a more responsible and liable corporate activity is evidence in the majority of EU countries. Surely there are observed differences between various economic sectors (with some of them leading while others lagging behind) nevertheless the overall trend is promising and seems that EU firms are starting to invest significant resources on CER.