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3 - Climate change and the corporate construction of risk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2015

Christopher Wright
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Daniel Nyberg
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, New South Wales
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Summary

I am looking at this through the lens of risk – climate change is not only a risk to the environment but it is the single biggest risk that exists to the economy today … When people say it doesn't make economic sense I want to scream out: ‘Bullshit’.

Hank Paulson, former secretary of the US Treasury (Cambone, 2014)

In the previous chapter we argued that climate change has brought to the fore corporate capitalism's continuing exploitation of the planet for gain. We called this process ‘creative self-destruction’ and suggested the muted response to it has been the result of not just the organised rejection of climate science but the incorporation of environmental critique through ‘corporate environmentalism’ and related concepts of ecological modernisation.

Corporate activities such as creating sustainability departments, submitting to voluntary reporting, and marketing products as ‘green’ and environmentally sound embody this trend. They seek to make climate change manageable within a corporate capitalist economy, seizing on emerging business opportunities in the face of new physical, economic, and social shifts. Unfortunately, they also obstruct desperately needed and more radical alternatives.

In this chapter we explore in more detail how corporate environmentalism is shaped and justified. In particular, we examine how business practices are moulded through the discourse of ‘risk’. We investigate how, in ordering the threats and uncertainties that surround climate change, corporations construct different forms of overlapping and interrelated risks around their activities.

Consider, for instance, the development of ‘green’ products. This might enable a company to respond to a range of perceived market or reputational risks by seeking a first-mover advantage over competitors; or it might even be used to avoid a consumer backlash. Such an approach is manifestly rooted in being seen to be ‘green’; yet it also seeks to preclude more stringent state control by emphasising the efficacy of self-regulation.

The dominant discourse of risk therefore provides a familiar language in dealing with climate change. It is the same language that businesses use in dealing with other ‘threats’ and ‘opportunities’. Moreover, according risks a monetary value allows corporations to calculate, compare, and optimise their strategies.

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Climate Change, Capitalism, and Corporations
Processes of Creative Self-Destruction
, pp. 47 - 72
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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