Abstract
Among the world’s largest polluters, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), not privately controlled businesses, are the greatest contributors to global industrial emissions. SOEs are major contributors to fossil-fuel-related carbon emissions, so understanding how to engage SOEs in combating climate change is essential. Because SOEs do not respond to all of the same pressures and incentives as privately controlled firms, this Essay seeks to highlight differences between the engagement of private and government-controlled businesses, and describes and analyzes the legal and regulatory strategies, including influence, regulation, and litigation, that activists, governments, and NGOs can use to help carbon-intensive SOEs transition towards more sustainable operations. While influence and regulation are limited in their ability to shift SOE behavior, litigation holds greater promise. Private firms are increasingly subject to human rights claims resulting from their impact on climate change, and this Essay argues that dirty SOEs operating as commercial competitors to these private firms do not enjoy the protection of the doctrine of sovereign immunity and should also face liability from similar claims. Just like private enterprises, SOEs have a duty to avoid harming other parties through their operations. Therefore, SOEs must adapt their business practices to avoid these harms.
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