Climate Change and the Emergence of New Organizational Landscapes
- 19 November 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Organization Studies
- Vol. 33 (11), 1431-1450
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840612464612
Abstract
There is general agreement across the world that human-made climate change is a serious global problem, although there are still some sceptics who challenge this view. Research in organization studies on the topic is relatively new. Much of this research, however, is instrumental and managerialist in its focus on ‘win-win’ opportunities for business or its treatment of climate change as just another corporate social responsibility (CSR) exercise. In this paper, we suggest that climate change is not just an environmental problem requiring technical and managerial solutions; it is a political issue where a variety of organizations – state agencies, firms, industry associations, NGOs and multilateral organizations – engage in contestation as well as collaboration over the issue. We discuss the strategic, institutional and political economy dimensions of climate change and develop a socioeconomic regimes approach as a synthesis of these different theoretical perspectives. Given the urgency of the problem and the need for a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy, there is a pressing need for organization scholars to develop a better understanding of apathy and inertia in the face of the current crisis and to identify paths toward transformative change. The seven papers in this special issue address these areas of research and examine strategies, discourses, identities and practices in relation to climate change at multiple levels.Keywords
This publication has 72 references indexed in Scilit:
- Science or Science Fiction? Professionals’ Discursive Construction of Climate ChangeOrganization Studies, 2012
- Corporate Perceptions of Climate ScienceBusiness & Society, 2011
- When science meets strategic realpolitik: The case of the Copenhagen UN climate change summitCritical Perspectives on Accounting, 2011
- Regulatory Pressure and Competitive Dynamics: Carbon Management Strategies of UK Energy-Intensive CompaniesCalifornia Management Review, 2010
- Analysing comparable greenhouse gas mitigation efforts for Annex I countriesEnergy Policy, 2009
- Exxon is right: Let us re-examine our choice for a cap-and-trade system over a carbon taxEnergy Policy, 2009
- Corporate Responses in an Emerging Climate Regime: The Institutionalization and Commensuration of Carbon DisclosureEuropean Accounting Review, 2008
- Niche accumulation and hybridisation strategies in transition processes towards a sustainable energy system: An assessment of differences and pitfallsEnergy Policy, 2007
- Strategic Responses to Global Climate Change: Conflicting Pressures on Multinationals in the Oil IndustryBusiness and Politics, 2002
- A climate for business: global warming, the state and capitalReview of International Political Economy, 1998