ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the importance of the corporate legal framework for a change towards sustainable production processes, together with the pressing need for sustainability and the importance of corporate influence on the general natural and social environment. By finding that corporate law does matter for business development and that its impact on society and the environment is sizeable, it explores the nature and the level of success of corporate social responsibility in mitigating the shortcomings of shareholder value maximisation and in achieving the internalisation of excessive corporate externalities. The chapter argues that the soft-law approach to corporate social responsibility has not provided a sufficient impetus for a long-term change towards sustainable methods of production. It continues by exploring the current state of corporate social responsibility in the European Union, its development and the calls for sustainable corporations as a basis for sustainable development.
