Social and economic aspects of environmental problems in the globalized world

. Globalization is the phenomenon that has made quite a loud statement about itself during the last decades of the 20th century and found its representation in the formation of global economic, financial, cultural, legal, and political areas. Having been the conglomerate of various national states for thousands of years, the world’s social, economic, ecological, cultural space is now transforming into space without borders. The formation of global economic relations, ecological, demographic challenges can’t be solved individually, with local measures and means. In the second half of the 20th century, the world faced global problems and crises (ecological, demographic, reorganization of the economic and political world order), which have become the challenges that can’t be solved with the help of local actions. The global community is forced to raise issues about the ecologization of the entire industrial activity taking into account its consequences at all levels: local, national, and international. That’s what common threats and problems require. The sustainable development paradigm requires both reviewing and changing the “human-nature” system and realizing the necessity of preserving nature for ensuring the existence of the next generations. Sustainable development is to provide the transfer to a new economic type – the green economy, which requires significant investments, particularly in the renewable-energy industry, industrial waste treatment, restoration of soil fertility, preservation of forests.


Introduction
For dealing with ecological crisis phenomena, the world community introduced a case of programs. For example, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). International cooperation in solving global ecological problems was strengthened by two conventions signed in 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A range of international conventions have been adopted, including the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa.
In 1991, the Global Environment Fund (GEF) was established as an experimental program to contribute to environmental protection. During the initial stage of its operation, the fund cooperated with renowned partners: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Bank. Since the establishment, GEF provided 14.5 billion USD from its own sources and engaged over 75.4 billion USD as co-investments into over 3,900 projects in over 165 countries. The own assets of GEF come from donor countries that contribute funds every four years within the so-called investment cycles. Every investment cycle has specific features regarding both resource and administrative, technical, financial, and other rules and procedures. Indeed, the analysis of contributions to GEF since the moment of its establishment in 1991-1994 (pilot phase) was 1 billion USD and has grown to 4.43 billion USD in 2014-2018 (investment cycle GEF-6) [1].
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in 1992, and in 1997 they passed an additional document, the Kyoto Protocol [2].
The countries that joined it assumed the duty of reducing or stabilizing the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at the level that would prevent harmful anthropogenic impact on the climate system of the planet. At the same time, the Protocol provided these countries with the opportunity of purchasing rights for emissions from other countries with high emissions.
The issue of environmental protection and ecological activities was studied by V.

Materials and methods
The theoretical and methodological basis of the study contains general scientific and specific techniques and approaches that allowed us to analyze the main socio-economic factors influencing the global natural environment. A systematic and structured approach made it possible to explore each element of the environmental debate focusing on the whole. A hermeneutic method was used to understand and explain the texts of programs and conventions on environmental and socio-political issues, etc. A cognitive approach provided a view of the philosophical discussion through the prism of the way of thinking, perception, and understanding. Methods of comparative conceptual analysis and retrospective modeling are used in the study for the analysis of conceptual invariants and the comparison of ideological models of texts and discussion topics. A systematic approach made it possible to consider environmental issues both globally and locally and ensured the study of the environment employing a large number of methods. It allowed for considering the integrity and dynamics of ecosystems, the influence of the anthropogenic factor and predicting the solution of the problem of survival of the human species. A synergistic approach has highlighted the possibility of ecosystem self-organization.

Results
Since the 1970s, the total number of natural disasters has increased 5-fold, from an average of 70 to 350 a year, leading to a sharp increase in environmental damage. Already in the 1980s, it became clear that environmental factors had a significant impact also on production infrastructure. There appeared a need to increase the expenses on treatment facilities and the development of clean technologies and production processes, the promotion of environmental products in the market.
Most companies in developed countries started using resource-saving technologies in the 1980s-1990s. It was at this time that chemical companies in developed countries doubled their production reducing energy consumption; the rate of water consumption also decreased; closed production cycles for waste processing have been actively used since then. Since the 1990s, taking into account environmental requirements has become a priority for most large companies. This was driven by the need to comply with the legislation, which increased the responsibility for environmental pollution, and improve the company's reputation. In the 1990s, the emphasis was placed on the resource and energy efficiency of production, and the International Environmental Law and Environmental Management Standards (for example, ISO 14000) were developed. From the beginning of the 21st century, more and more attention is being paid to investing in renewable energy; waste processing; information systems for modeling and monitoring climate and ecosystem status. TNCs started funding scientific research to provide low-carbon manufacturing, zero carbon dioxide (carbon neutrality) emissions.
When adopting environmental legislation, governments must take into account that TNCs' environmental expenses should include the costs for preventing environmental damage. This prevention is associated not only with ecological operating and capital expenditures but also with the introduction of new (energy-and resource-intensive) technologies, that is, with investments in production and sales, management of environmental processes.
The concept of sustainable development emphasizes the need to strike a balance between meeting the needs of humanity and protecting the environment for the benefit of the present and future generations. This issue has been repeatedly addressed at UN conferences and meetings where a number of declarations were adopted: the Declaration of the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972) [3], which established a link between economic and social development with environmental problems; the report of the UN's World Commission for Environment and Development (1987) [4].
The paradigm of sustainable development was substantiated in the Blueprint for a Green Economy (1989) [5]. A green economy involves managing a system that effectively uses existing resources and provides for the growth of income and employment through public and private investments. These investments should be oriented on the improvement of the energy and resource consumption efficiency, which will reduce carbon footprint and pollution and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in the future.
Green investments are socially responsible investments because investing by different companies is focused not only on revenues but also on the way of producing goods that minimizes the negative impact on the environment. This "clean" production includes solar power plants, organic agriculture, the use of eco-friendly vehicles.
A green economy stands for the following: rational use of limited natural resources; more active use of unlimited resources; transition to alternative energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal power, etc.); conservation and increase of natural capital; reducing the level of environmental pollution; reducing carbon emissions; conservation of biodiversity; income and employment growth; increasing social protection and household incomes in poor rural communities; poverty reduction and control over demographic processes; formation of ecologically clean infrastructure of the planet, including drinking water, forests, soils; stimulating the development of organic production in agriculture.
There are about ten areas that are best suited to green investments, such as industrial agriculture, water and forestry management, energy, industry, construction, energy-saving technologies, recycling of household waste, etc. According to the forecasts of the employees of the Energy Institute (Frankfurt, Germany), solar energy will have become E3S Web of Conferences 164, 11019 (2020) TPACEE-2019 https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf /202016411019 cheaper than electricity generated from coal or gas by 2025 [6].
The annual turnover of the green economy in the EU exceeds 300 billion EUR, equivalent to 2.5% of GDP; the number of employees is about 3.4 million, i.e., 1.5% of all employed; a quarter of all investments go to clean technologies. For instance, wind power engineering gives the maximum increase of investments in comparison with other branches of the EU economy in recent years [7].
It is estimated that by 2025 the world market for environmentally friendly equipment alone will have reached 4.4 trillion EUR, which means more than 30% of the average annual growth for the green economy and increase of its contribution to the world GDP by 6-7%. The largest amount of green investments in environmentally-friendly activities is typical among countries that are leading in economic development, such as the PRC (22,300 million EUR), Japan (12,300 million EUR), the Republic of Korea (9,300 million EUR), the French Republic (5,700 million EUR), the Kingdom of Denmark (700 million EUR), the Kingdom of Belgium (118.8 million EUR) [8].
According to the calculations of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, the launch of a green bond market in Ukraine will allow attracting investments in various energy efficiency areas. Experts of the International Finance Company believe that launching the green bond market will enable Ukraine to raise 73 billion USD by 2030 [9].
Uncontrolled economic growth requires the increasing consumption of natural resources since practically any commercial activity is associated with a particular environmental burden. Due to the rapid growth of the world economy in the second half of the 20th century, the environment is suffering from ever-greater damage. By the beginning of the 21st century, as compared with 1950, the world's industrial production had extended 7fold, and the population had increased by 2.5 times (the population reached 7 billion people). The scale of world production and consumption has already led to a severe imbalance of the natural and social systems; it has also led to the state when the environment can no longer cope with the consequences of the anthropogenic influence.
Global companies have started implementing programs dedicated to reducing the anthropogenic impact on the environment, recycling and utilization of raw materials and waste, energy conservation, etc. A number of "green rankings" of global corporations have been created. These are determined as a result of the analysis of environmental statistics and provide an opportunity to evaluate the environmental impact of every company. The analysis of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) 2018 [10] showed a decrease in the number of companies engaged in biotechnology, production of essential commodities, and medicine. Instead, there has been an increase in the share of companies involved in housing construction, transport infrastructure, and electronics manufacturing. These trends indicate that the criteria for evaluating the performance of companies in the field of sustainable development are increasing. The 2018 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Top 5 rankings among high-tech companies include Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Intel Corporation, etc. Well-known companies certainly have in their assortment green variants of goods, the nomenclature of which is increasing. For example, the world's leading brands Gap, Nike, Patagonia, and others are launching eco-friendly clothing lines, Timberland uses recycled materials to pack their products, and Walmart has declared itself a "new green giant." A significant number of global companies use the slogan "caring for the environment" in their advertising.
The structures that have the most significant impact on the environment under the conditions of globalization are primarily TNCs, which are becoming a principal subject of contemporary international economic relations. Globalization allows TNCs to attract new financial resources, diversify their production, reduce production costs through standardized goods, collaborate with other corporations, banks for creating and expanding TNC's management makes financial, investment, and strategic decisions at the international level synthesizing in view of regional specificities (features of local markets) to gain additional competitive advantages in a rapidly growing and developing global market. At the same time, environmental interests are often ignored, industrial pollution occurs at hazardous sites due to the deterioration of water, air, soil quality (for example, as a result of the work of pulp and paper and chemical enterprises or the excessive extraction of resources, both renewable and non-renewable) forcing governments to regulate their activities with environmental legislation in order to address environmental issues. In general, the attitude of TNCs to ecological activities has evolved significantly over the last decades. The initial, predominantly consumerist attitude and lobbying against harsh environmental demands have transformed into a response to the sharp rise in world prices on energy sources in the early 1970s when the task of severe reduction of energy consumption, especially in resource-intensive global industries, was actualized. Later, in the 1980s, most TNCs in developed countries began to implement resource-saving technologies actively. In particular, in the 1970s and 1990s, chemical corporations in developed countries would have the doubling of production, as well as a double reduction in energy consumption per unit of production, a reduction in water consumption, the transition to the use of closed production cycles and waste processing technologies.
During 1990-2019, the accounting for environmental requirements became a strategic priority in the activities of leading TNCs, which was also due to a set of factors, including the need to comply with stringent rules of law, public influence, improvement of the international image of companies, opportunities to gain competitive advantages of TNCs in foreign countries.
The main focus of the greening of the TNC's production activities is the system of state regulation that is primarily recognized as compliance with the legal requirements for environmental protection, the strengthening of which requires a rapid reaction from the business. Another major impetus is the economic toolkit of the state's environmental policy, the use of which gives TNCs more opportunities for business development. The formation of new social values, in particular after the significant industrial accidents in India and Ukraine (for example, the Chernobyl accident in 1986) that resulted in severe environmental consequences, has also had a significant impact on productive activities of TNCs. In 2010, a major accident occurred on a BP drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico in the United States resulting in an oil spill that has drawn attention to the environmentally hazardous activity of TNCs [11]. This has had a negative impact on the ecosystem of the gulf causing major damage to such sectors of the region's economy as fishing and tourism. This situation has drawn the attention of the international community to the need for strict adherence to environmental standards.
The laws of countries apply systems of taxes and penalties for the violation of environmental legislation. In Western European countries, all polluting manufactures are taxed. Expenses on treatment facilities sometimes account for 50% of production costs [12]. A market-based mechanism of environmental protection emerges; it provides for the use of ecological subsidies, loans, taxes, fees, fines, credits, and quotas related to emissions of harmful substances. For example, in the USA, these funds are accumulated in environmental funds or government accounts. They apply direct and indirect state subsidies from the local authorities for the construction of treatment facilities and the recycling of industrial waste [13]. One of the options of government subsidies in the United States is removing from the total amount of taxes the interest rates received from the bonds that are aimed at combating pollution of atmospheric air, water and land resources, etc. [14].
A prerequisite for the emergence of new directions in the environmental activities of corporations was the awareness of the consequences of environmental problems. These were the following vectors: 1) The international system of standards. The main groups of standards and regulations have emerged: National standards: this standard is a guide and contains certain principles for the implementation of environmental management systems. In the field of environment, the first standard was BS 7750 introduced by the British Standards Institution in 1992, revised in 1994; International Standards ISO 14001, a standard for the formation of an environmental management system developed by the International Organization for Standardization. ISO 14000 is optional in nature, does not replace the requirements of the law, but only determines how the company affects the environment, as well as the extent to which the requirements of the law must be met. TNCs can follow ISO 14000 standards within internal operations. The creation of this system provides an effective tool for the enterprise, which is a reliable means in managing its impact on the environment and conducts activities in accordance with various requirements [15].
The main goals of the international standards system implementation today are the following: promoting a high quality of products and services; implementation of effective quality management methods; improvement of technological processes and equipment; development and production of products within the state target programs; export of domestic goods and services. This led to the creation of several standards that began to provide a certain basis for environmental management and to some extent eliminated environmental problems through production.
2) Eco-labeling of goods: special graphic symbols or text that confirm the compliance of a product or service with environmental safety standards for the environment and the consumer. Eco-labels are applied to those products that can damage the environment during their production, use, disposal, and utilization. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) performs efficient operations with eco-labeling.
3) Eco-management (EMAS) includes a complete set of management issues related to environmental processes as a management object. The need for environmental management is determined not only by the sharp deterioration of the environment, ecological crisis but also by natural trends in the development of modern production, such as differentiation of regional production location; increase of production capacities for the needs of new technologies; exacerbation of the impact of production not only on regional nature but also on the global world; division of countries in the world economy into producers of hazardous wastes and their absorbers (waste concentration); the emergence of the political content of environmental consciousness and world view; trends in scientific and technological progress (biotechnology, nuclear technology, etc.). 4) Ecological (green) marketing is the process of meeting the needs of consumers by promoting products or services that minimize environmental damage at all stages of the life cycle and are created with the least possible amount of natural resources (including energy). The very concept of ecological marketing emerged in the 1990s resulting from the contradictions of traditional marketing with the deterioration of environmental quality, shortage of natural resources, world population growth, inflation, and the negative state of the sphere of social services. Green marketing gives consumers and companies the opportunity to preserve the environment and try solving the standard tasks that accompany any marketing campaign.
At the present stage, a significant number of the largest TNCs are guided by the criteria of environmental marketing in production.
In 2017 alone, the sales of the Toyota Prius in the European market increased by 1000 units. It is estimated that by 2021, green vehicles will have accounted for 16% of the total number of cars produced. The bicycle industry has also been affected by hybridization. Indeed, the sales of electric bicycles in Europe in 2017 amounted to about 900,000 units, an increase of 40% compared to the previous year. According to the latest report from the consultancy company Navigant Research that provides market research and analytics services in the field of eco-technologies, the development of the electric bicycle market is growing rapidly. By 2025, the annual turnover of electric bicycle sales is expected to reach 24.3 billion USD. Within the European Union, the sale of electric bicycles is steady and significant, which will allow them to be converted from a category of specialized equipment to a standard bicycle accessible to everyone in a few years. In 2019 in the US, the decline in the cost of gasoline has led to a rapid decline in demand for hybrid bicycles. Demand growth has only come for premium models. On average, global sales growth will be 0.4%, taking into account the fall in demand in China at 0.8% by 2025. Excluding the Chinese market, by 2025, the global bicycle industry expects sales growth from 3.3 million units to 6.8 million units with the greatest demand coming in Western Europe and Southeast Asia (Japan and Vietnam) [16].
Transnational corporations such as Apple, IKEA, Levi's, Coca-Cola, and others are engaged in the recycling of used goods sending them for secondary use. This is where marketing strategies play a crucial role in promoting such actions by TNCs.
Another striking example is the global organic food market. In the United States, 72% of supermarkets have organic food departments. The estimates by Organic Trade Association show that the global organic food market is growing by about 20% annually and is now estimated at about 30 billion USD (this market is growing four times faster than the global food market as a whole). In 2017, sales of organic goods in Europe doubled, despite the fact that their price is quite high (the cost of organic products on average in Europe is about 50% higher than for conventional goods) [17].

Discussion
The need for adherence to the paradigm of sustainable development and the transition of civilization to a state of global dynamic equilibrium should be dominant in the formation of collective global security. Harmonious coordination of objectives of each local community should ensure the solution of major civilizational contradictions. Mobility and flexibility will allow avoiding those interactions that cause perturbations and let them build their own course, despite the unexpected impacts and changes [18].
2009 was announced the year of climate change, and the Global Green New Deal was launched. The foreseen included investments in the economies of the states, creation of jobs, improvement of the socio-economical situation. In 2012, the conference on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro resulted in the prolonged signing of international legal treaties. It is worth noting that the Earth Summit was convened in 1992 in the same Rio de Janeiro, called the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). On the other hand, prior to 1992, the international community had been drawing attention to the urgency of the environmental problem, which resulted, in particular, from the industrialization of states, the exploitation of new types of weapons, the massive destruction of evergreen forests. However, in 1992, the Earth Summit gathered 172 states [19], representatives of non-governmental organizations numbered 2,400. At the Earth Summit, the following issues were considered: a systematic study of the patterns of production of toxic components, in particular, radioactive chemicals; alternative energy sources; a health problem related to vehicle emissions; limited water supply and increasing consumption. At the Earth Summit, the Convention on Biological Diversity was signed. It has become the basis for rethinking measures aimed at conserving natural ecoregions. Although President George Bush signed the above mentioned Convention, William Reilly from EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) acknowledges that the goals of the United States at the Conference were to eventually reject the adoption of the proposed Convention on Biological Diversity [20]. Twelve cities in the world were awarded the "Innovative Generally speaking, the United Nations Climate Change Conferences are held annually. They serve as official meetings of Parties with the aim to evaluate the progress in combating climate change and, starting in the mid-1990s, after the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol, to establish legal obligations for developed countries regarding the reduction of their emissions of greenhouse gases.
Considering the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), on June 12, 1992, 154 countries signed the UNFCCC and obliged their governments to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases with the aim of "preventing the dangerous anthropogenic influence on the climate system of the Earth." This obligation requires a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Article 3 (1) of the Convention [21] states that the Parties shall take measures to protect the climate system on the basis of "common but differentiated liability" and that the Parties that are developed countries shall "take the lead" in tackling the climate change issue. Pursuant to Article 4, all participants shall perform common obligations regarding addressing the climate change issue through, for example, mitigating the effects of climate change and adapting to the residual impacts of climate change [22]. The extent to which the Parties that are developing countries will be effective in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention shall depend on the efficient implementation by the Parties that are developed countries of their obligations under the Convention related to financial resources and transition of technologies; the Parties that are developing countries will consider to the full extent that ecological and social development and overcoming poverty are their first and most important priorities.
Therefore, the global development paradigm, called sustainable development, was developed on the basis of an analysis of the root causes of environmental degradation across the biosphere and finding ways to overcome threats to human health and ecology. The search for new forms of interaction between society and nature that would ensure the survival of humanity and the preservation of the environment. Ukraine has formally endorsed a number of international decisions on sustainable development, such as An Agenda for the 21st Century [23][24][25][26][27], but does not yet have a nationwide plan for the practical implementation of sustainable development ideas. The reason for this is the lack of an approved national sustainable development strategy and action plan for its implementation and the lack of implementation of the provisions of international documents and agreements in this field in the current legislation.
The Draft Report of Ukraine to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 states that in order to ensure economic growth, Ukraine needs to undertake a radical technological modernization of the industry introducing resource-saving technologies, clean and safe production systems, as well as introduce effective modern management of the usage of natural resources and environmental protection.
As part of the implementation of the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, Ukraine planned to raise from 1.5 billion USD to 10 billion USD from selling part of its emission quotas in 2007. However, in 2011, there were problems in attracting green investments in Ukraine, mainly due to the lack of a clear identification of the area where forestation, reforestation, deforestation, etc. are performed and the failure to develop a clear evidence base for relevant human activities. Because of this, the real results of the implementation of the projects for selling emission quotas to other countries were lower than expected.
During 2008-2011, our country sold only 47 million acute assessment units (AAUs) or less than 5% of the amount estimated in 2007 [28]. Moreover, it was initially expected that we would become the leader of this process in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), but, as of 2012, Ukraine is the third, second to the Czech Republic and Estonia (see Figure 1). There are several reasons why expectations have not been met: first, the planned revenues from the sale of quotas in real life appeared to be too high: due to the economic downturn and other objective reasons, the demand for greenhouse gas emission quotas turned out to be limited, which is why less than 300 million AAUs were sold worldwide in 2008-2011; as a result, the volumes of sold quotas by Ukraine were significantly lower than expected; second, in addition to being able to sell quotas, the ability to handle green investments is also important. One of the financial and economic mechanisms for addressing environmental issues in the Framework Convention on Climate Change is the Green Climate Fund (GCF) [29], which aims to finance low-emission, climate-resilient development projects through projects and programs focusing on the mitigation of consequences and adaptation in developing countries. The GCF was created by 194 countries that are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2010 as part of the financial mechanism of the Convention. It seeks to ensure equal funding for mitigation of consequences and adaptation while respecting the principles and provisions of the Convention.
The GCF aims to stimulate the influx of climate financing to invest in low-emission and climate resilient development leading to a change in the global climate change reaction paradigm. The GCF is expected to be a key element of UNFCCC efforts to increase climate financing and will reach 100 billion USD per year by 2020. When the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015, the GCF played an essential role in servicing the agreement and maintaining the goal of maintaining climate change well below 2 degrees Celsius. The GCF aims at equitable financing for the strategies of mitigation and adaptation to the consequences of climate change.

Conclusions
According to the synergistic approach to the development of society, the self-organization of complex systems moves from chaos to increasing orderliness based on certain order characteristics and generalized synergistic information in compliance with specific patterns (models) [30]. A large number of random factors influence the development of society. The development scenario may depend on a random factor that will affect it at the moment. J.-F. Liotard noted that "the meaning (direction) of a universal historical situation is not determined once and for all since the global society involved in it cannot be described as something that changes according to mechanical laws. Each stage of this complex system is followed not by a certain stage, but by many coincidences" [31]. Factors of modern life, such as terrorism, religious intolerance, environmental disasters, migration processes that change the ethnic, religious, and cultural makeup of the population, can at any time modify the course of history. The world is too complicated and unpredictable. Leaders of countries often make decisions whose consequences are extremely difficult or impossible to predict. It is possible to reduce the influence of chance on the development of society only on the basis of revealing tendencies of its development. Since the negative factors that threaten the existence of life on the planet can acquire some asymptotic acceleration in the "exacerbated" mode, they should be contrasted with the purposeful cultivation of spiritual parameters (values, ideals, and norms) in the social consciousness of individual societies and the global society in general.
Since in today's interdependent world it is not possible to solve alone the issues of environmental security, counter-terrorism, problems related to the division of the world into "North-South" and "West-East," "golden billion," and the rest of humanity, etc., the world community faces the challenge of its future. Environmental activities of large foreign companies include the following areas: the international system of standards, eco-labeling of goods, environmental management and marketing, environmental audit, ecological transparency. Despite the measures taken, the activities of large corporations abroad continue to cause enormous and growing damage to the environment, especially regarding their operation in developing countries and at least extent in developed countries. In some raw material and strategic sectors, environmental considerations, although taken into account by corporations, are not yet dominant during management decision making. This actualizes the need for international control and regulation of TNCs, which is especially important given the growing global nature of their activities and the limited capacities regarding these issues of individual governments. In order to improve the environmental practices of TNCs, innovations and the introduction of the best green technologies have to be encouraged.
Current trends in the world economy have created the preconditions for a number of negative tendencies and threats in the environmental field. The quantitative assessment of corporate environmental performance is possible on the basis of a number of well-known indicators. Among other things, it is crucial for the corporation to identify the best environmental practices and consider the following factors: the extent of the use of this practice; production threats to the environment; usage and ultimate disposal from the environment; environmental advantages or disadvantages of alternative materials; progress in changing scientific knowledge; the timing of the transition to practice and its socioeconomic consequences. Qualitative analysis of the environmental practices of the corporation requires the choice of know-how and technologies that allows you to gradually change production and organizational processes since this choice provides opportunities to reduce or increase the negative impact on the environment in the future. Therefore, the agenda is as follows: green economy, conservation and restoration of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, social and environmental orientation of goods and services, legislativebased integrated reporting, transition to closed-loop production systems and supply chains, closed-loop economy, reporting about the impact of business processes on society and the environment, the maximum quality of life.