Business in a Changing Climate: Explaining Industry Support for Carbon Pricing

by Kaija Belfry Munroe

Overview

Climate change skeptics and business pundits alike are convinced that any public policy instruments used to curtail environmental degradation are antithetical to the interests of the corporate community. However, many companies have actually come out in favour of carbon pricing.

In Business in a Changing Climate, Kaija Belfry Munroe examines this counterintuitive action and, in doing so, explains how large firms determine their preferences for public policy options. Her analysis of thirteen industrial associations and seventeen firms from industries such as petrochemical, forestry, mining, and steel, reveals that, despite the higher costs, these industries prefer carbon pricing over voluntary agreements. Based on enlightening interviews with executives, government, and NGO officials, Belfry Munroe argues that the acceptance of climate change policy by companies is determined by the risks posed to capital investments and investor concern.

Business in a Changing Climate is the first book to ask major pollution emitting industries in Canada what their preferences are with respect to climate change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487500559
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	12/21/2016
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kaija Belfry Munroe is a professor of Canadian Studies at Quest University Canada.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: A literary foundation

Chapter 3: Methods for Model-building

Chapter 4: Climate Change Policy Instruments, Business Preferences and Public Opinion

Chapter 5: Legitimacy, Public Opinion and Investment

Chapter 6: Advantage

Chapter 7: Experience

Chapter 8: the Ideas of Managers – a Null Finding with Potential

Chapter 9: Conclusions

Works Cited

What People are Saying About This

Deborah VanNijnatten

"Kaija Belfry Munroe provides new empirical information that is important for academics and practitioners in the environmental policy community. Business in a Changing Climate is an accessible work that shows us that "business" is neither monolithic, nor simplistic in the way that it approaches environmental policy dilemmas."

Graeme Auld

"In Business in a Changing Climate, Kaija Belfry Munroe provides a timely and cogent argument that makes a useful contribution to the study of business and the environment in Canadian politics and beyond."

Editorial Reviews

"Kaija Belfry Munroe provides new empirical information that is important for academics and practitioners in the environmental policy community. Business in a Changing Climate is an accessible work that shows us that "business" is neither monolithic, nor simplistic in the way that it approaches environmental policy dilemmas."

—Deborah VanNijnatten, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University

"In Business in a Changing Climate, Kaija Belfry Munroe provides a timely and cogent argument that makes a useful contribution to the study of business and the environment in Canadian politics and beyond."

—Graeme Auld, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University

From the Publisher