Climate Change, Capitalism, and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-Destruction

Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity, a definitive manifestation of the well-worn links between progress and devastation. This book explores the complex relationship that the corporate world has with climate change and examines the central role of corporations in shaping political and social responses to the climate crisis. The principal message of the book is that despite the need for dramatic economic and political change, corporate capitalism continues to rely on the maintenance of 'business as usual'. The authors explore the different processes through which corporations engage with climate change. Key discussion points include climate change as business risk, corporate climate politics, the role of justification and compromise, and managerial identity and emotional reactions to climate change. Written for researchers and graduate students, this book moves beyond descriptive and normative approaches to provide a sociologically and critically informed theory of corporate responses to climate change.

Christopher Wright is Professor of Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney Business School. He has researched and published widely in the areas of management knowledge diffusion, organisational change and consultancy. His current research explores organizational and societal responses to climate change, with a particular focus on how managers and business organizations interpret and respond to climate change.

Daniel Nyberg is Professor of Management at Newcastle Business School, Australia, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on political activities in and by organizations. He has pursued this interest in projects on how organizations respond to climate change, adaptations of sickness absence policies, and the implementation of new technologies.