Firms’ Response to Climate Change: The Interplay of Business Uncertainty and Organizational Capabilities

With climate change emerging as one of the most important issues increasing uncertainty in the business circle, firms have shown different reactions. Why do firms differ in adopting and implementing carbon management practices (CMPs) in response to the global warming issue? This paper attempts to explore this question with particular attention to two factors: external business uncertainty and internal organizational capabilities. This study investigated whether business uncertainty, organizational learning and lean production capabilities influenced the adoption and implementation of CMPs as well as examining how organizational capabilities moderate the relationships between business uncertainty and the level of CMPs. The results of a cross‐sectional survey and hierarchical regression analyses indicate that perceived business uncertainty decreases the adoption of CMPs, organizational learning and lean production capabilities strongly facilitate the adoption and implementation of CMPs, and lean production capability positively moderates the impacts of business uncertainty on the adoption of CMPs. This study provides guidance for managers and academics considering how to identify, design and manage the dimensions of a firm's practices in response to the global warming issue within the organization as well as with other organizations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The Governance of Corporate Responses to Climate Change: An International Comparison

In response to pressures from governments, investors, non‐governmental organizations and other stakeholders, many large corporations have adopted a variety of carbon and energy management practices, taken action to reduce their emissions and set targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Using the case of international retailers, this article examines whether, and under what conditions, non‐state actors might be capable of assuming the governance roles that have historically been played by national governments. This article concludes that external governance pressures can, if they are aligned, robust and of sufficient duration, have a significant influence on internal governance processes and on corporate strategies and actions. However, the specific actions that are taken by companies – in particular those that require significant capital investments – are constrained by the ‘business case’. That is, companies will generally only invest capital in situations when there is a clear financial case (i.e. where the benefits outweigh the costs, when the rate of return meets or exceeds company targets) for action. That is, the extent to which external governance pressures can force companies to take action, in particular challenging or transformative actions that go beyond the boundaries of the business case, is not at all clear. This is particularly the case if the business case weakens, or if the opportunities for incremental change are exhausted. In that context, the power of non‐state actors to force them to consider radical changes in their business processes and their use of energy therefore seems to be very limited. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Climate Change Response: Evidence from the Margaret River Wine Region of Australia

This study explores the relevancy of climate change to business using a sample of wine firms operating in Margaret River, Western Australia, one of the premier wine regions of the world. Using a qualitative approach based on thematic analysis, the results challenge the extent to which climate change is a salient stakeholder, while demonstrating that the phenomenon may, in fact, be beneficial. Response actions towards climate change demonstrate both mitigative and adaptive actions, although differences in their level and rate of implementation appear to be attributable to a mix of normative and instrumental trade‐offs. Implications of the findings are discussed, with a particular focus on location theory and economic barriers as a key driver of trade‐offs between the choice of mitigative or adaptive response to climate change. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture in the Southwestern United States: The Ricardian Approach Revisited

This paper estimates a Ricardian model of farmland value across the counties of the semiarid Southwestern United States. Compared to previous contributions, we focus on one climate zone and include the presence of extreme weather events and of farm subsidies in our analysis. We also control for heterogeneity and for various types of spillover effects. Once calibrated, the model is used to project changes due to future climate conditions. We find that the probability of a decrease is great in highland counties while an increase or decrease is equally probable in lowland counties where climate impacts farmland value less.     

The Impact of Carbon Performance on Climate Change Disclosure

In the light of the significant role of environmental accounting in sustainable development, this study examines whether climate change disclosure reflects a firm's environmental performance. The novelty of the study stands on the approaches adopted to describe environmental performance. The first approach concerns performance in terms of output, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, while the second one is based on environmental intention of mitigating climate change, including climate change policy and emission reduction initiatives. The Climate Performance Leadership Index is employed as a measure for climate change disclosure level, incorporating initiatives contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation and transparency. Ordered logit regression is the appropriate methodology for the data employed concerning firms listed on FTSE 350. According to our findings, environmental performance for both adopted approaches entails a positive effect on climate change disclosure, a result that is consistent with voluntary disclosure theory. It is inferred that firms cannot manipulate their information reflecting their actual environmental performance and adopting a forthright and factual attitude towards sustainable development. Finally, findings provide an insight into managers' strategic behavior towards climate change issues. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

国际贸易对气候变化的影响研究综述

随着世界贸易量的急剧增长,贸易自由化引起了一系列对气候变化问题的思考:贸易自由化是否导致温室气体排放的增加?贸易对气候变化影响的程度到底有多大?围绕这些问题,国内外学者进行了大量研究。文章在对国际贸易与气候变化关系的文献进行梳理后,侧重于分析贸易自由化对气候变化影响的研究,主要围绕三个方面对现有文献进行述评:对外贸易的环境效应、环境库茨涅茨曲线、国际贸易隐含碳。这些研究对我国减排目标和政策的制定都具有重要的启示。     

龙州近30年气候特征及变化分析

文章利用龙州县1980—2010年的常规气象资料,分析了龙州县气温、降水量、日照、蒸发的变化特征。结果显示,龙州县1980—2010年的平均气温有明显的上升趋势,各季节的平均气温也有上升趋势,其中冬季升温趋势明显。年降水量有下降趋势,但是下降趋势不明显;各季节的降水量也存在下降趋势,以秋季降水下降趋势较为明显,各月降水量存在较大的差异。年日照没有明显的变化趋势,但是年际变化较大;蒸发量在新观测手段运用前后有较为明显的变化,但是前后2段时间都有增加的趋势。     

Adaptation Measures of Energy and Utility Companies to Cope with Water Scarcity Induced by Climate Change

Resource‐intensive business plays a fundamental role in causing climate change through the emission of large amounts of GHGs (greenhouse gases), and, in turn, climate‐induced physical changes affect companies. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather and climate events (IPCC, 2012). Droughts represent a major challenge for energy and water businesses, in terms of both exacerbation of dry climates and increase in the number of territories that experience water shortage. On the basis of an analysis of the energy and utility companies operating in different continents, the objective of this empirical research is twofold: on the one hand, it examines how these companies perceive the changes in water availability induced by climate change (as well as the potential impacts on business); on the other hand, it analyses the corresponding measures that these companies adopt to cope with changes in hydrology and water resources driven by climate change. Data from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) provide valuable information about business climate‐related responses of several of the world's largest firms. Our results show that, in the energy and water sectors, some adaptive measures are starting to be implemented to deal not only with the risks but also with the opportunities related to climate‐induced physical changes, thus leading to interesting innovation. The paper concludes that anticipated positive effects could drive energy and utility companies towards a proactive stance to achieve a competitive advantage and trigger innovative trajectories. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Day Zero and The Infrastructures of Climate Change: Water Governance,Inequality, and Infrastructural Politics in Cape Town's Water Crisis

From 2015 to 2018, Cape Town, South Africa, was marked by fears of a water crisis in which the city's taps threatened to run dry. We argue in this article that Cape Town's crisis of water scarcity was a product of the convergence of ongoing contradictions in South African water governance as they came into contact with shifting infrastructural priorities associated with climate change. In its response to the possibility of a financial crisis brought on by reduced water consumption, the city withdrew the universal provision of free basic water (FBW) and reconfigured existing tariff structures. Both changes meant that the city moved further into commercialization and valuation practices in the context of restricted monetary flows. Based on an understanding of contemporary governance in South Africa as reflective of an often contradictory need to balance municipal budgets while also correcting for apartheid inequities, we argue that ongoing experiences of climate change are stretching existing municipal budgets in ways that threaten to deepen existing inequalities. Ultimately, we suggest that Cape Town's crisis is critical for understanding how climate change is reconfiguring existing governance dynamics at a planetary scale, thus offering insights into what form urban climate change adaptation may take in the future.     

‘Gentrification Without Displacement' and the Consequent Loss of Place: The Effects of Class Transition on Low‐income Residents of Secure Housing in Gentrifying Areas

The increasingly disputed concept of gentrification‐induced displacement is combining with the argument that the poor benefit from social mix to produce a theoretical case for ‘positive gentrification'. The notion that new middle‐class residents not only attract more investment but bring opportunities for ‘upward social mobility' to low‐income people who manage to stay in gentrifying areas has become policy orthodoxy. While there are scholarly challenges to the extent of these benefits, the disadvantages of imposed social mix on low‐income communities even where they are not physically displaced remain under‐researched. This article helps to fill this gap by reporting on research into the experience of long‐term low‐income residents of gentrifying neighbourhoods who managed to stay put. The research explores notions of social mix, place and displacement among residents of secure community housing in Melbourne, Australia (the equivalent of small‐scale social housing in Europe and North America) with the object of establishing whether the absence of physical displacement is sufficient to ameliorate gentrification's negative impacts. The findings demonstrate that transformations in shops and meeting places, and in the nature of local social structure and government interventions, cause a sense of loss of place even without physical displacement.     

The evolving role of trade associations in negotiated environmental agreements: the case of United Kingdom Climate Change Agreements

Voluntary and negotiated agreements are becoming increasingly popular instruments for regulating industry's environmental performance. Although their main purpose is to modify the behaviour of individual firms, the coordinating role of trade (or industry) associations is often critical to their environmental effectiveness. Thus, a clear and mutually agreed understanding of associations' role in the agreement process is essential. This paper examines the nature of trade associations' input into the negotiation and implementation of environmental agreements, using the case study of United Kingdom Climate Change Agreements. Results show associations serving a range of coordinating roles, including the aggregation of members' viewpoints, negotiation of agreements, provision of regulatory and technical knowledge and collation of performance data. We conclude that further involvement of trade associations in negotiated and voluntary agreements can bring appreciable, though not uncontested, benefits in terms of environmental effectiveness. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Urban Responses to Climate Change: Theories and Governance Practice in Cities of the Global South

Cities around the world have recently started to become ‘proactive’ initiators of climate strategies containing both mitigation and adaptation elements. The experience of these first movers has been studied and documented both empirically and, to a lesser extent, theoretically, primarily for cities in the global North. This symposium addresses related knowledge gaps by exploring case studies of urban regions in the global South confronting their projected climate change challenges, showcasing the experiences of Delhi, Santiago de Chile and Bogotá. Its specific aim is to explore the urban social response to nature change, the adaptation challenges faced by cities across the world and current practices of urban adaptation. Further, the symposium seeks to understand to what extent and in what respect current conceptual frameworks — which highlight urban ecological security and vulnerability — provide a useful context/framing to assist cities in confronting their challenges and to explain their actions. This introductory article examines current knowledge of the theory and practice of urban climate response. It introduces the concepts of ecological security and vulnerability and discusses the adaptive capacity of cities and how they are starting to respond to the emerging challenges of climate change. It concludes with a synthesis of the case articles and highlights some of the findings.     

Project Leadership in Becoming: A Process Study of an Organizational Change Project

Drawing on the current research in general leadership, we propose that a process ontology is relevant and rewarding for project leadership studies. We argue that project leadership can be studied as the ongoing social production of direction through the construction of actors’ space of action, involving continuous construction and reconstruction of (1) past project activities and events; (2) positions and areas of responsibility; (3) discarded, ongoing, and future issues; and (4) intensity, rhythm, and pace. Through an ethnographic case study of an organizational change project, we show how space of action and hence the project direction are in constant flux and becoming.     

基于生态环境保护的我国北方城市景观发展研究——以兰州市为例

本文在分析我国北方城市景观发展中存在的问题的基础上,以兰州市为例,从生态环境角度对城市景观的发展建设进行了分析探讨。总结得出了兰州市在城市景观建设,尤其在生态环境方面与其他城市相比具有的优势与不足,并总结了兰州市在城市景观发展中存在的问题及原因,最后提出了相关的对策和建议。     

The nature and antecedents of middle manager resistance to change: evidence from an Italian context

Although widely regarded as central to the successful implementation of change in organisations, middle managers have been relatively neglected in the literature on resistance to change (RTC). Focusing on middle management, we investigated the relative impact on RTC of two key factors commonly identified in the literature as key potential antecedents of resistance, namely individuals' perceptions of the cost/benefits of change and their extent of participation in the change process, respectively. To this end, we first identified a number of alternative hypotheses about the impact of the two antecedents of interest on RTC. We then tested these hypotheses using structured survey data from a sample of over 300 middle managers in the Italian national electricity company (ENEL) which, in the second half of the 1990s, underwent a major programme of change in preparation for its eventual privatization. In line with dominant arguments in the literature, the results of the analysis provided clear support to the idea that both antecedents of interest have a significant impact on middle managers' propensity to engage in various forms of RTC. For the most part, though, resistance amongst middle managers was found to take the form of a failure to engage in various types of pro-change behaviour, rather than of a propensity to engage in more open and active forms of dissent.     

The emission cost of international sourcing: using structural decomposition analysis to calculate the contribution of international sourcing to CO2-emission growth

The effect of changes in trade patterns, particularly increasing international sourcing, on global CO₂-emissions growth has yet to be clearly understood. In this paper, we estimate the emission cost of sourcing (ECS), which originates from replacing domestic products by imports from countries with more CO₂-intensive technologies. Using a structural decomposition analysis, we find that changes in sourcing patterns between 1995 and 2007 contribute (1) to reducing territorial emissions in high-wage countries (70% of their territorial emissions growth) and (2) to increasing territorial emissions in low-wage countries (30% of their territorial emissions increase). The net global effect, the ECS, amounts to 18% of total global CO₂-emissions growth. Our results call the climate change policies based on territorial principles into question given that they disregard that differences in emission intensities between countries contribute to raising global emissions. In contrast, policies fostering the transfer of cleaner technologies to low-wage countries decrease the ECS.     

Production in advance versus production to order: The role of downstream spatial clustering and product differentiation

In every production process, suppliers have to decide whether an item should be produced and stored as inventory before an explicit purchase order is received (production in advance), or whether it should be produced only after such an order is received (production to order). We study the determinants of this firm-level choice. We present a simple conceptual framework to derive predictions that we subsequently test in the empirical analysis. We argue that an increment in buyers’ spatial concentration benefits production in advance more in homogenous industries than in differentiated ones, while the benefits for production to order are larger as product differentiation increases. Consequently, the propensity to adopt one of the two production modes, following an increase in the number of local downstream buyers, changes according to the degree of product differentiation of the goods. Relying on a large data set of Italian manufacturing firms, we find empirical support to our ideas.     

风能、太阳能应用于农业生产的可行性研究——以晋西黄河谷地为例

为评估晋西黄河谷地地区风能、太阳能资源在区域农业生产中的开发利用价值,本文选取了该区域内11个具有代表性的气象站点,运用气候学以及Arc GIS相关分析方法详细分析了风能、太阳能的时空分布特征。结果显示:(1)二者在空间分布上均呈现由北向南递减的趋势。(2)平均风速集中于2.0-2.5m/s左右,呈现春夏(2.5m/s)大于秋冬(2.0m/s)的特征,不宜开发。(3)太阳辐射年值为5467.9 MJ/m2左右,年日照时数为2500h左右,属太阳能资源区划三类地区,太阳能资源较为丰富。红枣成熟干燥时期的日照时数所占全年日照时数比重约为30%左右,结合实地调研,区域太阳能资源对于当地农产品的加工干燥具有一定的应用价值。     

The integration of international financial markets: an attempt to quantify contagion in an input–output-type analysis

ABSTRACT

The increasing integration of international financial markets means that credit defaults in one country have to be covered by creditors in other countries. If the principle of creditor liability were applied systematically, the financial losses incurred by the financial institution that provided the credit and is thus directly affected by the default would be ‘passed on’ through its domestic and foreign shareholders and debt holders, as well as their creditors, to the original savers. In this paper, this contagion effect will be estimated by taking international capital linkages into account. Analogously to an input–output analysis of inter-industry linkages, savings used for investments in one country are traced back to the countries from which the funds originated. This also reveals the important role of international financial centers, which essentially serve as distributors of investment risks, while the financial losses are ultimately borne by larger countries with higher levels of savings.