The wind rises abruptly, disturbing a pond of ‘Clear Water’: reflections on the pollution blacklisting of 33 Chinese multinationals

With the deepening globalization many multinationals have become a universal concern in developing countries not only because of their importance in foreign direct investment (FDI) activities, but also because of their critical role in environmental protection. In the wake of sporadic exposures of multinational environmental disturbances in the past months, just recently another 33 multinationals have been disclosed blacklisted on the internet for their failure to observe the Chinese environmental standards. All these have cast a shadow over their traditional responsible image. The paper tries to explore possible underlying causes behind this discredit through an analysis of multinational compliance, governmental management as well as public participation. Based on this, the paper also raises some key concerns that must be addressed and further studied to understand the environmental disturbances of the multinationals as a whole, and identifies solutions for these issues with an attempt to make recommendations for the improvement of the effectiveness of the Chinese environmental policies and regulations within the arena of foreign-funded industries.