North American business strategies towards climate change

Citation

Jones, C.A. (2008), "North American business strategies towards climate change", Strategic Direction, Vol. 24 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd.2008.05624fad.001

North American business strategies towards climate change

Article Type: Abstracts From: Strategic Direction, Volume 24, Issue 6.

Jones C.A., Levy D.L. European Management Journal, December 2007, Vol. 25 No. 6, Start page: 428, No of pages: 13

Purpose to look at climate change mitigation and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures taken by North American business. Design/methodology/approach contends that business has become a key component of global environmental governance, differentiates between government and governance, and argues that the business community has played an important role in shaping the system of global GHG governance. Traces the history of US business response to climate change, outlines initial aggressive response to GHG emission regulation, refers to a change of stance following acceptance of a win-win argument, but notes substantial public relations and advertising efforts to re-brand companies as green. Suggests that corporate action on climate change appears to be spreading, supports this suggestion by quoting from the reports of four third-party organizations that monitor corporate responses, explains that these organizations assess both business involvement in emission trading schemes and participation in collective political action aimed at either resisting or supporting emissions reduction, shows that, overall, European business is outperforming US business in terms of GHG management and emissions reduction, and notes a paradox in that some US companies are simultaneously members of organizations supporting and opposing emissions reduction. Concludes that, whilst North American business realizes that climate change is an issue, it faces only modest political and economic incentives for action. Originality/value demonstrates that current polices are not generating the quantity of GHG emissions reduction necessary to mitigate climate change.ISSN: 0263-2373Reference: 37AB272DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2007.07.001

Keywords: Carbon, Climatology, Corporate strategy, Environmental management, North America, Pollution control