Browsing by Author "Ritvala, Tiina, Asst. Prof., Aalto University, Department of Management Studies, Finland"
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- Whose game, whose rules: Neoliberal hegemony and corporate power in climate change governance - Exploring the outcome in the energy sector
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2020) Aho, LottaClimate change is a serious global threat needing an urgent global response. For some time now climate change has not been considered to be only a subject of environmental politics, but more and more a pressing concern in economic policies. Consequently, the problem of climate change has largely been reduced to an economic question. While climate science demands radical reduction of emissions to avoid the most catastrophic consequences, the policies are based on the quest for eternal economic growth, even though economic growth has been identified as the primary reason for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This thesis is concerned with the reasons for the lack of ambitious climate change mitigation policy despite the urgency of the problem. I analyse the power relationships that have given rise to carbon markets, while critically investigating their shortcomings, particularly in reducing emissions. The aim of this thesis is to improve understanding of how ideology and power influence contemporary climate policies. An improved understanding can facilitate a change in policy direction. The first essay analyses the formation and maintenance of hegemony in international climate change policies. Moreover, it examines the political power of MNCs and its impact on institutionalizing market-mechanisms as the primary instrument in combatting climate change. Carbon markets are seen as manifestations of the neoliberal hegemony and corporate power to maintain status quo. The second and third essays empirically explore the outcome of the neoliberal hegemony and corporate political power in the energy sector. In the essays, I use quantitative methods to analyse several years of company specific emissions and financial data from the world’s largest oil and utilities companies. The results indicate that corporate power can be used to block regulations, and place emphasis on economic efficiency instead of emissions reduction in the design and implementation of market-mechanisms. My thesis argues that one of the main reasons for the gap between science and policies is that reducing global GHG emissions has been placed in the dominant framework of neoliberal ideology. This privileges free markets, profits, and economic efficiency over emissions reduction. To demonstrate how the prevailing neoliberal agenda constrains radical action on climate change, the thesis illustrates the influence of multinational energy companies in legitimizing a market-based solution to climate change. Moreover, it proclaims the ineffectiveness of this approach in reducing emissions, and how corporations can end up profiting from carbon markets. The neo-Gramscian theoretical framework, with emphasis on the role of ideas, institutions and material power is used to exe neoliberal approach to climate change despite the poor results in achieving emissions reduction.