Analysis of the Environmental Legal Risk and Its Response for Multinational Corporations in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from the Perspective of the Environmental Regulation Provisions

Abstract

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is one of the most attractive investment destinations with the highest degree of openness and the strongest economic vitality in China. This paper phases out the current state and prospect of environmental regulation in the GBA, especially unscramble the risks of environmental infringement and the benefits of proactively taking environmental responsibility from the standpoint of multinational corporations. Within the applicable environmental stipulates in international investment arbitration, the problems of the domestic environmental legislation, justice and governance include legislation gaps, professional barriers to the application of provisions in the judiciary, and the breadth of administrative powers. The underlying causes of these risks include the complexity of the environmental litigation triad, the unpredictability of the transition policies, and the all-encompassing developing of international investment arbitration. Against this background, multinational corporations are now coping with the most complex regulation system and bearing unpredictable risks for lack of adequacy comprehension. The anatomy in this paper is intended to assist multinational corporations fully consider the legal risks and costs during decision-making, and introduce the feasible methods in clarifying the corporation's internal liabilities.