Audience: Business Community

Business students believe corporate leaders should be solving environmental and social issues, but they perceive the most serious issues to be elsewhere. 41% perceive themselves as “very” or “extremely” knowledgeable about environmental sustainability, an increase from 21% measured in a 2015 survey. 51% reported they would accept a lower salary to work for an environmentally responsible company, up from 44% in 2015. 94% of business students agree that global warming is happening, and 52% consider themselves “very” or “extremely” concerned about its impacts. 61% believe that both government and companies have a responsibility to address “environmental and social crises.” Majorities of students want more business school teaching and career services focused on environmental issues. However, just less than one third perceive the condition of the environment in their own country or city to be poor.

American consumers are willing to reward and punish companies based on their corporate climate behavior, but they don’t always know which companies are good and bad. This survey from September 2021 showed that Americans reported both doing this with their recent, past consumer behavior and their intentional, future behavior. 33% of Americans said they have rewarded companies that are taking steps to reduce global warming by buying their products in the past 12 months, and 28% said they have punished companies that are opposing steps to reduce global warming by not buying their products. 41% said that, over the next 12 months, they intend to reward companies that are taking steps to reduce global warming more frequently than they do now. Americans said that the biggest barrier in preventing more of this kind of behavior was not knowing which companies to reward and punish.

Many corporations and governments are advancing “net zero” climate plans that fail to provide real solutions to addressing climate change and cutting emissions. These plans allow polluting industries to escape responsibility to address climate change and shift the burden of climate action to frontline communities.

Using frames and rhetoric that emphasize consumer responsibility, demand, and the uncertainty of climate risk, fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil downplay the seriousness of climate change. An analysis of ExxonMobil’s internal and external facing documents use different frames to talk about climate change. In advertisements, the company’s rhetoric acknowledges that climate change poses a risk, but the authors argue that the risk frame encourages uncertainty about the seriousness of human-caused climate change. Similarly, advertisements also use frames that put responsibility on individuals, indicating that individuals’ energy demand has been too high for companies to meet it with anything but fossil fuels. The company can use these frames and rhetoric to sidestep responsibility for their role in human-cause climate change.             

The concept of a “just transition” has permeated mainstream discourse, yet those who will likely be most impacted by the energy transition – frontline workers and their communities – have mostly been excluded from the conversation. This report, derived from over 100 listening sessions and interviews with workers and frontline community members, encourages policymakers to:

Go Big: Be guided by a just transition vision that is ambitious and comprehensive in order to address the scope of impacts for affected communities and industries. Job creation, labor standards, and workers’ rights must be included.
Go Wide: Impacts from economic transitions can be felt in a number of ways, from financial to social to psychological. Policymakers should engage with existing social infrastructure such as labor unions, frontline community groups, and Indigenous nations to make sure support is readily available.
Go Far: While the climate crisis is urgent, just transition plans must not be fixated on the short-term. Instead, policymakers should include long-term commitments to workers and their communities as part of their vision and take into account differences in generational needs between older, established workers and those just entering the workforce.

In addition, the report addresses how labor and advocacy organizations need to develop authentic, trusting relationships with each other to build political and policy alignment around just transition goals. One way to start is to establish and expand internal committees and capacities to understand each other’s issues and perspectives.