How Environmental Destruction Is Built Into Corporate Design

The piece questions how corporate decisions sustain environmental destruction by tracing the lineage from Henry Ford to today’s boardroom practices. It recalls the Ford-Dodge lawsuit over pricing and profits, illustrating the long-standing dominance of shareholder primacy in corporate law, where CEOs must prioritise stockholders wealth. It cites stark data: about 100 companies account for 70% of global emissions, while 20 corporations contribute to more than half of the world’s single-use plastic waste. The article also notes the externalization of costs in US governance, exemplified by Delaware’s business framework, and underscores the climate crisis, PFAS and BPA contamination, and the data generated by vehicles as evidence of systemic misalignment between profits and planetary health.