Conditions for Sustainable Leadership: Corporations in Global Climate Governance

• In Event: Transnational Interest Group Effects on Democracy and Sustainability

Abstract

Transnational corporations, through their strategic and short-term profit-oriented actions, are commonly thought of as having a negative and disproportionate influence on ecosystem services. Ecosystem services refer to the benefits that humans accrue from well-functioning ecosystems, such as clean air or climate regulation produced by agricultural and forest ecosystems. However, recent research has suggested instead that transnational corporations, if combined with effective public policies, could help to enhance sustainability within planetary boundaries. Indeed, some corporations have, independently of states, already engaged in both rhetorical and private governance activities supporting sustainability policies. In the former case, after the US formally announced in 2019 it was leaving the Paris agreement, major corporations in the US such as Apple and Facebook publicly condemned the withdrawal. In the latter case, private partnerships such as the Marine Stewardship Council are pushing for more sustainable fishing by engaging in product labeling. Why do some major transnational corporations engage in sustainable leadership, pursuing public goods such as resilience to unavoidable climate change and sustainable development, while others do not? This article theorizes the conditions under which transnational corporations engage in sustainable leadership. It uses organizational and social media analysis to explore the challenges, incentives, and opportunities for sustainable leadership. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we seek to extrapolate a pattern of sustainable leadership across corporations, sectors, transnational networks and institutional arrangements such as partnerships, levels of government, and over time. Second, we seek to theorize the conditions under which corporations will engage in sustainable leadership. Taken together, this article contributes to the theory and practice of climate decision-making and transnational interest group politics.

Authors

• Lisa Maria Dellmuth, Stockholm University

• Darren R. Halpin, Australian National University