The balance of power has shifted. Governments are losing control to huge multinational corporations. This process is putting basic human rights and vast areas of the natural world in serious danger. It's time to challenge the rise of corporate power.

Devastated: Malaysian rainforest cleared for agriculture

Corporate power

Each time we visit the supermarket, pay our taxes or fill up our car we fuel the growth of big companies.

Behind the public face of corporations:

• Democracy is eroded
  Companies often have more power than governments. They threaten to move their business to get what they want.

• Environments are destroyed
  Rainforests are cleared to grow products on our supermarket shelves. Demand for palm oil is decimating forests in Borneo.

• Human rights are abused
  People have no say on changes ruining their lives. Communities are thrown off their land or forced to live next to leaking oil pipes.

By law, public companies have to maximise profit and keep investors happy. This means economic growth comes before people and the planet.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporates have too much power and too little incentive to care about communities and the environment. To head off such accusations many businesses are adopting voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies. CSR promises to do more than the legal minimum to protect people and the planet. But CSR is failing because it:

• Doesn't make a difference
  Companies don't deliver on promises eg Shell illegally flares gas in Nigeria.

• Ignores the real problems
  Reports gloss over impacts of core business eg forest destruction caused by BAT's tobacco plantations.

• Is voluntary
  There is no enforcement eg Barclays sign-up to principles they fail to meet.

Corporate lobbying

Companies hide behind lobbying groups that fight on their behalf for less regulation.

For example, the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) lobbies on behalf of business against laws that would benefit people and the environment.