Nudge or Shove – can non-state actors really drive corporate action on climate change?

Date: 18 Jan 2012
Speaker(s): Rory Sullivan, Andy Gouldson
Venue: University of Leeds

Part of the CCCEP / SRI seminar series 2011-2012

Companies make a huge contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and have a potentially huge contribution to make (through the provision of technology, finance, expertise, etc) to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, with international negotiations on climate change seemingly becalmed and the desire of many governments, whether for fiscal or ideological reasons, to withdraw from key areas of social and environmental policy, society faces important questions about how companies can be encouraged to play their role in the fight against climate change.

This seminar analyses and assesses the role that has been played by actors such as investors, NGOs, the media and indeed companies themselves in this debate, focusing specifically on how these various actors have sought to influence corporate performance and the outcomes that have resulted. From this, the potential for these actors to continue to influence and drive corporate performance is discussed and, specifically, whether these interventions can make a substantive contribution to the delivery of the low-carbon economy.