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Employing an interdisciplinary lens, this book examines the practices, legal frameworks, and regulatory challenges of corporate responsibility and accountability in emerging sectors, drawing on national, regional, and international case studies.
In the current climate, business activities are debated and scrutinised worldwide due to their social, environmental and human rights impacts. Concomitantly, corporations have been active agents of progress in the investment, creation and dissemination of new technologies; fields in which the regulation of responsible business conduct is still developing. Aligning with current challenges of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the book is divided into five parts and looks at AI and data, investment, production and consumption, energy and climate change. It offers a compelling analysis of the convergences and divergences in business practices across diverse legal and regulatory frameworks. By examining the gap between law, regulation, and rapid advancements in emerging sectors and technologies, it provides actionable insights for corporate strategy, legal reform, and policy development, ensuring timeliness and practical relevance.
The book will be of interest to researchers in the field of business and corporate law, corporate responsibility and accountability.
List of contents
PART I: Foundations and Conceptual Framework1. Introduction: Corporate Responsibility and Accountability in Emerging Sectors through the Lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
2. Reconceptualising Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability to Enhance Multinational Corporations' Accountability
PART II: Corporate Responsibility and Accountability in AI and Data3. Balancing Innovation and Responsibility: AI Regulation and Corporate Accountability in Emerging Sectors
4. Governing AI Risks within Companies: Directors' Duty of Care in the Modern Age
5. Embedding Responsibility and Accountability in Regulatory Frameworks Governing Conversational Agents in Mobile Mental Health Applications
6. Digital Colonialism and Data Sovereignty in Africa: Human Rights Implications of Big Tech Expansion
PART III: Corporate Responsibility and Accountability in Investment7. Investors Obligations in International Investment Agreements: Exploring Responsible Foreign Investment
8. Corporate Investors' Exploitation and Plunder in the Democratic Republic of Congo - The Illusion of Development amidst Minerals Extraction
PART IV: Corporate Responsibility and Accountability in Production and Consumption9. Blockchain and Corporate Responsibility: Smart Contracts as Tools for Enhancing Transparency and Accountability
10. Responsible Production and Consumption in Tourism and Hospitality
PART V: Corporate Responsibility and Accountability in Energy and Climate Change11. The Brazilian Pre-Salt Exploration by Foreign Petroleum and Gas Companies: Autonomy of Will under Law Number 12.351/2010
12. Corporate Liability for Carbon Emissions in Aviation: Legal and Business Frameworks
About the author
Angelica Rutherford is a Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, Co-Director of the Technology, Innovation, and Global Law Research Group (TIG) and a Fellow of Advance HE. Her research interests encompass International Trade Law, Energy Law (clean energy technologies), International Investment Law & Arbitration, and Business & Human Rights. Adopting both critical and pragmatic approaches, Angelica investigates the integration of environmental, human rights, and social considerations into international business law. Angelica is an interdisciplinary scholar, engaging in both socio-legal inquiry and law & economics research.
