The business of rapid transition

Abstract

In a context of climate emergency and calls from the IPCC for "transformative systemic change," we need to revisit the role of business in helping to accelerate responses to climate crisis. The scale and depth of the challenges facing business have intensified in ways which force us to refocus our research on questions of urgency and speed, as well as the growing need for new and alternative business models and a fundamental re-balancing of the economy. There is a large literature dealing with business responses to climate change from a range of perspectives and disciplines covering issues such as corporate strategy and public policy engagement. But I argue that the question of the nature and speed of change now required, and whether there are historical and contemporary precedents for accelerated transitions within and beyond business, must assume a more central place in our research. This must be alongside growing efforts to understand how business will adapt to climate chaos. This conclusion implies a closer engagement and cross-fertilization of ideas with scholars of sustainability transitions, for example. Here, there is growing interest in the question of how to accelerate transitions, but where greater attention is required to the role of business actors.

‘We’re in the coal business’: Maintaining fossil fuel hegemony in the face of climate change

“…In contrast, the fossil fuel industry presents a future which continues the past and present, a temporal narrative which reinforces the hegemony of fossil fuels in the Australian economy. While there are now clear signs of a move towards the decarbonization of economies based on regulatory, market and technological changes (Newell, 2020), any countermovement to the prevailing fossil fuel hegemony needs to not only challenge prevailing narratives of national prosperity based on fossil energy, but also create a new frontier and public discourses which align the long-term interests of workers, communities and citizens in an increasingly climate-challenged world.…”

“…However, the growing political recognition of climate change as an existential threat to the future of human society fundamentally challenges the dominance of fossil energy. A burgeoning social movement of climate mobilization, worsening physical climate impacts and the dramatic decline in the cost of renewable energy has signalled growing contestation of the traditional energy model (Newell, 2020). In particular, over the last year, the world has witnessed an increasing number of regional and national governments, as well as many of the world's largest and most powerful corporations, including large fossil fuel corporations such as BP and Shell, publicly committing to a future of net zero carbon emissions.…”

“…economies based on regulatory, market and technological changes (Newell, 2020), any countermovement to the prevailing fossil fuel hegemony needs to not only challenge prevailing narratives of national prosperity based on fossil energy, but also create a new frontier and public discourses which align the long-term interests of workers, communities and citizens in an increasingly climate-challenged world.…”

What explains firms' net zero adoption, strategy and response?

“…Climate targets may also be adopted to achieve specific strategic goals such as managing future regulatory risks and pursuing economic opportunities including energy‐related cost savings (Hoffman, 2005; Margolick & Russell, 2001). Yet the recent wave of net zero targets goes further than most previously studied voluntary targets (Gouldson & Sullivan, 2013; Margolick & Russell, 2001; Rietbergen et al, 2015), committing firms to more rapid, impactful and multi‐dimensional climate action (Newell, 2020). They are also being adopted in a post‐Paris context where firms are facing ever greater pressures—from governments, civil society and other market actors—to contribute to global climate goals (Keefe, 2022).…”

Regime resistance and accommodation: Toward a neo-Gramscian perspective on energy transitions

“…Meanwhile in Brussels, Corporate Europe Observatory and others [100] exposed the level of corporate penetration of climate policymaking. Since 2010, fossil fuel corporations and their industry organisations have spent at least EUR €250 million "buying influence at the heart of European decision-making" [49]. In addition to increased political donations and lobbying activities, discursive strategies also change as incumbents perceive threats posed by challengers.…”