The Ocean 100: Transnational corporations in the ocean economy

J. Virdin; T. Vegh; J.-B. Jouffray; R. Blasiak; S. Mason; H. Österblom; D. Vermeer; H. Wachtmeister; N. Werner

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc8041

The Ocean 100: Transnational corporations in the ocean economy

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.abc8041 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. eabc8041

Author(s):

J. Virdin ◽

T. Vegh ◽

J.-B. Jouffray ◽

R. Blasiak ◽

S. Mason ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Private Sector ◽

Transnational Corporations ◽

Industry Concentration ◽

Global Ocean ◽

Commercial Use ◽

Ocean Conservation

The ocean economy is growing as commercial use of the ocean accelerates, while progress toward achieving international goals for ocean conservation and sustainability is lagging. In this context, the private sector is increasingly recognized as having the capacity to hamper efforts to achieve aspirations of sustainable ocean-based development or alternatively to bend current trajectories of ocean use by taking on the mantle of corporate biosphere stewardship. Here, we identify levels of industry concentration to assess where this capacity rests. We show that the 10 largest companies in eight core ocean economy industries generate, on average, 45% of each industry’s total revenues. Aggregating across all eight industries, the 100 largest corporations (the “Ocean 100”) account for 60% of total revenues. This level of concentration in the ocean economy presents both risks and opportunities for ensuring sustainability and equity of global ocean use.

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COAL SEAM GAS—PETROLEUM OR MINERAL

The APPEA Journal ◽

10.1071/aj96038 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 589

Author(s):

D.J. Gately

Keyword(s):

Private Sector ◽

Coal Seam ◽

Coalbed Methane ◽

Resource Development ◽

Coal Seams ◽

Coal Seam Gas ◽

Commercial Use ◽

Private Sector Investment ◽

History Of ◽

Policy Shift

1996 was a watershed year for gas exploration in Queensland: the increasing private sector investment in the search for and commercial use of methane gas from coal seams received legislative endorsement. Coal seam gas (CSG), also known as coalbed methane or CBM, was officially designated as petroleum, with exploration for and production of CSG to be administered under the Petroleum Act.The paper traces the history of exploration for CSG in Queensland since 1976, culminating in a policy shift in 1996. In Queensland there is now potential for overlapping titles and competitive resource development.

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The Political Economy of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Taxation in Latin America: Lessons from Mexico, Chile and Colombia

10.21203/rs.3.rs-36858/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Angela Carriedo ◽

Adam Koon ◽

Luis Manuel Encarnación ◽

Kelley Lee ◽

Richard Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Latin America ◽

Civil Society ◽

Private Sector ◽

Policy Process ◽

Transnational Corporations ◽

The Political ◽

Sugar Sweetened Beverages ◽

Sweetened Beverages ◽

Sugary Drinks

Abstract Background: In Latin America, diet-related non-communicable diseases and sales of sugar-sweetened beverages continue to rise at an alarming rate. Calls for action suggest "multi-sector" and "multi-stakeholder" approaches involving civil society and the private sector, including transnational corporations. While the focus has often been on forming “partnerships” of public and private sectors, ensuring the primacy of public health goals remains a significant governance challenge. This paper analyses this governance challenge using the experiences of Chile, Mexico and Colombia in the adoption of taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages. The three countries offer useful comparisons given their similar political and economic systems, institutional arrangements and regulatory instruments. We conducted a qualitative synthesis of the existing empirical evidence applying a political economy analysis to identify successes and failures during the policy process to adopt and implement the tax.Results: The findings suggest that a major constraint was the political influence of transnational corporations in the policy process and on stakeholders. Intergovernmental support was critical to frame the sugary drinks beverages (SSBs) tax aims, mechanisms and its benefits, and for countries to adopt the measures. Coalitions for and against the tax were critical for the policy debates, and a lack of transparency throughout the agenda setting was diluted by powerful TNCs presences in the countries studied.Conclusion: Governance arrangements involving partnerships with private sector actors should recognize the asymmetry of power among them and address it. Such arrangements should adopt clear mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability of all partners, and avoid the undue influence of unhealthy commodity industries. Support of several governmental entities simultaneously, grassroots groups, and civil society groups in NCD prevention policies is also needed.

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Global ocean conservation under the magnifying glass

Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems ◽

10.1002/aqc.2854 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 259-260 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Paolo Guidetti ◽

Roberto Danovaro

Keyword(s):

Global Ocean ◽

Ocean Conservation

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Private Sector

The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198803164.013.19 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 357-369

Author(s):

Craig N. Murphy

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Private Sector ◽

Code Of Conduct ◽

Transnational Corporations ◽

League Of Nations ◽

Business Leaders ◽

Secretary General ◽

Environmental Standards ◽

Private Companies ◽

Global Compact

The UN’s relations with the private sector initially followed the pattern of the League of Nations in occasionally relying on funding from business leaders or their foundations. In the 1970s, the UN had a more confrontational approach to transnational corporations and established a code of conduct for their operations. This approach ended in the 1990s, when the UN began subcontracting some activities both to NGOs and TNCs. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought to collaborate with companies to enforce global human rights, labor, and environmental standards through the Global Compact, a body endorsed by thousands of companies but with little impact. Nonetheless, cooperative partnerships with private companies have become a characteristic way in which the UN delivers development services.

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The Role of the Commercial Space Industry within the US National Security under the Trump Administration

Moscow University Bulletin of World Politics ◽

10.48015/2076-7404-2021-13-1-85-119 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 85-119

Author(s):

E. A. Kuznetsov

Keyword(s):

Private Sector ◽

National Security ◽

The United States ◽

Global Market ◽

Private Space ◽

Use Of Space ◽

Commercial Use ◽

The Us ◽

Space Activities

The US space activities from their inception have been closely connected with the private sector. However, only in 2010s private space companies have come to play a prominent role not only on the global market of space services but in the field of international security as well. At the same time, this trend towards commercialization of outer space use and the growing role of the private space sector in ensuring national security is still understudied. This paper aims to partially fill this gap by assessing approaches to these issues adopted by the administration of D. Trump. In the first section the author notes that both conceptual and legal frameworks of private space activities lack clarity and proposes an operational definition of the phenomenon. The second section provides a brief overview of the key strategic policy documents of the Trump’s administration including those on commercial use of space in general and its implications for the US national security in particular. The third section identifies the trend towards the institutionalization of the US Space Forces as one of the priorities of the Trump’s administration military policy. The fourth section thoroughly examines key forms and areas of the public–private partnership in commercial use of space, including launch services, communication services, intelligence gathering, as well as production and maintenance of satellites. Finally, the fifth section assesses the prospects for private space activities given the current tightness of the space services market and growing competition. The author concludes that private space plays a subsidiary role within the US national security and is still heavily dependent on state support. Nevertheless, the scope of public–private cooperation is expanding and the models of interaction are changing. The Trump’s administration has contributed to the development of the industry through liberalization of regulations and involvement of private sector in the new large-scale projects, such as the Artemis program. The other important outcome of the space policy of the 45th President of the United States is anchoring of private space activities in the US national security strategy documents.

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