Toward Net Zero? How Social Movement Activism and Political Ideologies Affect Corporate Communication About Decarbonization

• In Event: Organizational Responses to Crisis

Abstract

Corporations have made substantial voluntary commitments to address their contributions to the climate change crisis, with many committing to reach “net zero” emissions targets in the years ahead. To date there have been few social-scientific efforts to address two key questions: (a) which large firms make these commitments, and (b) how extensively firms communicate about these commitments. The link between these two topics is, we argue, also of critical importance: we need to understand the extent to which firms are over-communicating (“greenwashing”) versus under-communicating (“green-hushing”). We carry out an analysis of Fortune 1000 firms over the years 2006-2024, examining the role of corporate-targeted activism, the observed political ideologies of both CEOs and top management teams, and firms’ industry and financial characteristics, in shaping both net-zero commitments and related communications. We find that companies targeted for climate activism are more likely to engage in communication of both decarbonization and renewable energy, but not to adopt net zero goals, apparently reflecting some degree of greenwashing. However, our results also show that companies that have top management teams with a more liberal political ideology are more likely to engage in communication of both climate change and renewable energy, and also to adopt net zero goals. We consider the implications of our findings for theory and research on organizational theory, environmental sociology, and social movements.

Authors

• Ion Bogdan Vasi, University of Iowa

• Edward T. Walker, University of California-Los Angeles