How will you handle the potential for corruption? What if the government is unable or unwilling to enforce environmental regulations?
Lax governmental regulations and corruption is one of the reasons that coastal development is leading to substantial environmental degradation in Mexico. The intent of responsible investment is to allocate money to projects that are going beyond legal compliance in terms of environmental and social laws. Inefficiency and corruption will certainly continue, but our investments will support well-planned projects that have a higher bar. These same government inefficiencies and corruption can pose a significant obstacle to development – and sometimes a greater challenge for responsible projects. For example there are many cases where responsible developers apply for permits but later realize the bureaucratic problems are so great they should have gone around the permitting process. The key is to develop sound relationships with various government agencies and officials in order to ensure that the development process is not compromised, and to successfully promote environmental goals. We ai
