Transparency International published Fighting Impunity and Corruption to Protect Environmental Defenders (October 2025), which includes an analysis of the links between corruption and impacts to environmental defenders, as well as a number of case studies.
Human Level’s Take:
- Corruption drives environmental harm and violence against defenders, especially marginalised and Indigenous communities, by undermining governance, concealing environmental crimes and fostering impunity.
- The private sector, particularly in land-intensive sectors like extractives, agriculture, infrastructure and large-scale development, faces heightened corruption and human rights risks. Corporate corruption can take a number of forms, for example bribery, undermining social and environmental impact assessments, manipulating community consultations, interference in lawmaking, and legal retaliation against defenders.
- Engaging with and supporting environmental defenders helps companies mitigate risks, prevent financial and legal liabilities, and proactively address environmental and corruption issues. It also strengthens relationships with local communities, improves social license, smooths project approvals, reduces conflicts, and publicly signals a commitment to sustainability, human rights and ethical leadership.
- Transparency International recommends that companies go beyond compliance to address broader corruption, environmental and human rights impacts.
- Key actions include: publicly committing to zero tolerance of attacks on defenders, respecting local laws and stakeholder rights (including FPIC), ensuring transparency of project and corporate data, engaging responsibly in politics and lobbying, and strengthening human rights and anti-corruption due diligence. Companies can also implement accessible grievance and remediation mechanisms and improve cross-functional coordination for a holistic, rights-based approach to risk management.
Some key takeaways:
- Corruption, environmental harm and risks to defenders are closely linked: Corruption is bad for both people and the planet. Corruption is a key driver of violence against environmental defenders, particularly those from marginalised and Indigenous communities. High corruption levels are strongly linked to increased violence, intimidation and killings of defenders globally. Corruption also enables environmental crimes and harms by undermining governance, concealing criminal activity, weakening the rule of law meant to protect ecosystems and communities, and fostering impunity. The private sector wields substantial influence on global environmental and human rights outcomes. Sectors like extractives, agriculture, infrastructure and large-scale development face heightened corruption and human rights risks due to complex regulations, high financial stakes and impacts on land and resources. Transparency International identifies three main types of corruption that companies can be involved in, namely bribery and illegal payments, undue influence and state capture, and gendered forms of corruption. What does corporate corruption look like in practice? It could include undermining the integrity of environmental and social impact assessments, manipulating community consultation and negotiations, and corruption in corruption in contracting and subcontracting. It could also entail exerting undue influence over public policy and oversight institutions via political interference, regulatory capture or bribes, and undermining civic space and broader communities including through retaliatory litigation.
- Why protecting defenders makes good business sense: There are a number of advantages for companies of protecting and engaging with environmental defenders. This can include preventing and mitigating liability, preventing financial losses and reducing the risk of fines or penalties by allowing companies to proactively identify environmental and corruption risks before they escalate. In addition, supporting environmental defenders can help companies to build relationships with local communities, leading to improved social license and reputation both locally and potentially spreading to other regions where the company operates. This in turn can help smooth approval processes, reduce conflicts and ensure more effective partnerships with local communities and governments. What’s more, supporting environmental defenders allows companies to publicly demonstrate commitment to sustainability, human rights and social responsibility, enhancing their reputation as ethical industry leaders.
- What companies can do: Transparency International offers a number of recommendations to companies, starting with a need to go beyond formal compliance and consider their role in broader systems of corruption, environmental harm and human rights impacts. One area where companies can take action is in strengthening their policies by publicly committing to zero tolerance of attacks on defenders and implementing specific procedures to respond to threats, retaliation or violence. In addition, companies can respect local laws, including when it comes to transparency. Specifically, this includes respect for Free, Prior and Informed Consent and engaging in good-faith stakeholder consultations, as well as ensuring public access to information and corporate data on projects, licenses, impacts and sustainability commitments. Companies can also undertake responsible political engagement and lobbying by disclosing beneficial ownership, political donations and lobbying, as well as refraining from direct or indirect political engagement that undermines open civic space or corporate accountability regulations. Finally, companies can take steps to strengthen their human rights due diligence and risk management approaches. This includes embedding anti-corruption and human rights due diligence across operations and the value chain, as well as establishing whistleblowing systems and strong, effective grievance and remediation mechanisms that are accessible to defenders, workers and affected communities. In addition, companies can work to strengthen coordination across compliance, legal, sustainability and CSR teams to develop a stronger, more holistic rights-based approach to risk management.
