IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/amposc/v65y2021i1p69-87.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supply Chain Linkages and the Extended Carbon Coalition

Author

Listed:
  • Jared Cory
  • Michael Lerner
  • Iain Osgood

Abstract

Which firms oppose action to fight climate change? Networks of input sourcing and sales to downstream customers ought to propagate and reinforce opposition to decarbonization beyond direct emitters of CO2. To test this claim, we build the largest data set of public political activity for and against climate action in the United States, revealing that the majority of corporate opposition to climate action comes from outside the highest‐emitting industries. We construct new measures of the carbon intensity of firms and show that policy exposure via carbon‐intensive inputs and sales to downstream emitters explains this large volume of opposition from non‐emitting industries. Sixty‐six percent of U.S. lobbying on climate policy has been conducted by an extended coalition of firms, associations, and other groups that have publicly opposed reducing carbon emissions. Public opposition to climate action by carbon‐connected industries is therefore broad‐based, highly organized, and matched with extensive lobbying.

Suggested Citation

  • Jared Cory & Michael Lerner & Iain Osgood, 2021. "Supply Chain Linkages and the Extended Carbon Coalition," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(1), pages 69-87, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:65:y:2021:i:1:p:69-87
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12525
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12525
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajps.12525?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erin T. Mansur, 2011. "Upstream versus Downstream Implementation of Climate Policy," NBER Chapters, in: The Design and Implementation of US Climate Policy, pages 179-193, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jensen, J. Bradford & Quinn, Dennis P. & Weymouth, Stephen, 2015. "The Influence of Firm Global Supply Chains and Foreign Currency Undervaluations on US Trade Disputes," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 913-947, October.
    3. Ka Zeng & Karen Sebold & Yue Lu, 2020. "Global value chains and corporate lobbying for trade liberalization," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 409-443, April.
    4. Markussen, Peter & Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard, 2005. "Industry lobbying and the political economy of GHG trade in the European Union," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 245-255, January.
    5. Matthias Damert & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2018. "Intra‐Sectoral Differences in Climate Change Strategies: Evidence from the Global Automotive Industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 265-281, March.
    6. Bayer, Patrick & Marcoux, Christopher & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2013. "Leveraging private capital for climate mitigation: Evidence from the Clean Development Mechanism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 14-24.
    7. Kim, Sung Eun & Urpelainen, Johannes & Yang, Joonseok, 2016. "Electric utilities and American climate policy: lobbying by expected winners and losers," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(2), pages 251-275, June.
    8. Levy David L. & Kolk Ans, 2002. "Strategic Responses to Global Climate Change: Conflicting Pressures on Multinationals in the Oil Industry," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 4(3), pages 1-27, November.
    9. Pinkse, Jonatan & Kolk, Ans, 2007. "Multinational Corporations and Emissions Trading:: Strategic Responses to New Institutional Constraints," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 441-452, December.
    10. Downie, Christian, 2017. "Business actors, political resistance, and strategies for policymakers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 583-592.
    11. Nigel Martin & John Rice, 2010. "Analysing emission intensive firms as regulatory stakeholders: a role for adaptable business strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 64-75, January.
    12. Andrew Cheon & Johannes Urpelainen, 2013. "How do Competing Interest Groups Influence Environmental Policy? The Case of Renewable Electricity in Industrialized Democracies, 1989–2007," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 61(4), pages 874-897, December.
    13. Osgood, Iain, 2018. "Globalizing the Supply Chain: Firm and Industrial Support for US Trade Agreements," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 455-484, April.
    14. Charles Cho & Dennis Patten & Robin Roberts, 2006. "Corporate Political Strategy: An Examination of the Relation between Political Expenditures, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 139-154, August.
    15. Kelsey, Nina, 2018. "Industry type and environmental policy: Industry characteristics shape the potential for policymaking success in energy and the environment," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 615-642, December.
    16. Federica Genovese & Endre Tvinnereim, 2019. "Who opposes climate regulation? Business preferences for the European emission trading scheme," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 511-542, September.
    17. Adam G. Bumpus, 2015. "Firm responses to a carbon price: corporate decision making under British Columbia's carbon tax," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 475-493, July.
    18. Robert J. Brulle, 2018. "The climate lobby: a sectoral analysis of lobbying spending on climate change in the USA, 2000 to 2016," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 289-303, August.
    19. Jonas Meckling, 2015. "Oppose, Support, or Hedge? Distributional Effects, Regulatory Pressure, and Business Strategy in Environmental Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 19-37, May.
    20. Levy, David L. & Kolk, Ans, 2002. "Strategic Responses to Global Climate Change: Conflicting Pressures on Multinationals in the Oil Industry," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 275-300, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ryan Rafaty & Geoffroy Dolphin & Felix Pretis, 2020. "Carbon pricing and the elasticity of CO2 emissions," Working Papers EPRG2035, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    2. Michael M. Bechtel & Kenneth F. Scheve & Elisabeth Lieshout, 2022. "Improving public support for climate action through multilateralism," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Robert Brulle & Christian Downie, 2022. "Following the money: trade associations, political activity and climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Réka Juhász & Nathan Lane, 2024. "The Political Economy of Industrial Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 11143, CESifo.
    5. Masakazu Ogami, 2024. "The Conditionality of Political Short‐Termism: A Review of Empirical and Experimental Studies," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    6. Maxwell Boykoff, 2024. "Climate change countermovements and adaptive strategies: insights from Heartland Institute annual conferences a decade apart," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 1-17, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cory, Jared & Lerner, Michael & Osgood, Iain, 2021. "Supply chain linkages and the extended carbon coalition," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122459, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Sanjay Patnaik, 2020. "Emissions permit allocation and strategic firm behavior: Evidence from the oil sector in the European Union emissions trading scheme," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 976-995, March.
    3. Robert Brulle & Christian Downie, 2022. "Following the money: trade associations, political activity and climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Irja Vormedal & Lars H. Gulbrandsen & Jon Birger Skjærseth, 2020. "Big Oil and Climate Regulation: Business as Usual or a Changing Business?," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 143-166, Autumn.
    5. Sarasini, Steven, 2013. "Institutional work and climate change: Corporate political action in the Swedish electricity industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 480-489.
    6. Federica Genovese & Endre Tvinnereim, 2019. "Who opposes climate regulation? Business preferences for the European emission trading scheme," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 511-542, September.
    7. Christian Downie, 2017. "Fighting for King Coal’s Crown: Business Actors in the US Coal and Utility Industries," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 17(1), pages 21-39, February.
    8. Konstantinos Evangelinos & Ioannis Nikolaou & Walter Leal Filho, 2015. "The Effects of Climate Change Policy on the Business Community: A Corporate Environmental Accounting Perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(5), pages 257-270, September.
    9. Burkard Eberlein & Dirk Matten, 2009. "Business Responses to Climate Change Regulation in Canada and Germany: Lessons for MNCs from Emerging Economies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 241-255, March.
    10. Jonas Meckling, 2015. "Oppose, Support, or Hedge? Distributional Effects, Regulatory Pressure, and Business Strategy in Environmental Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 19-37, May.
    11. Ans Kolk & Jonatan Pinkse, 2012. "Multinational enterprises and climate change strategies," Post-Print hal-00835257, HAL.
    12. Jeremy Galbreath, 2011. "To What Extent is Business Responding to Climate Change? Evidence from a Global Wine Producer," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 421-432, December.
    13. Jonatan Pinkse, 2007. "Corporate intentions to participate in emission trading," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 12-25, January.
    14. Natalie Slawinski & Jonatan Pinkse & Timo Busch & Subhabrata Bobby Banerjeed, 2014. "The role of short-termism and uncertainty in organizational inaction on climate change: multilevel framework," Working Papers hal-00961226, HAL.
    15. Matthew P. Johnson & Theresa S. Rötzel & Brigitte Frank, 2023. "Beyond conventional corporate responses to climate change towards deep decarbonization: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 921-954, June.
    16. Jochen Markard & Daniel Rosenbloom, 2020. "Politics of low-carbon transitions: The European Emissions Trading System as a Trojan Horse for climate policy?," Working Papers on Innovation Studies 20200116, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo.
    17. Matthias Damert & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2018. "External Pressures or Internal Governance – What Determines the Extent of Corporate Responses to Climate Change?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 473-488, July.
    18. Jon Skjærseth, 2013. "Governance by EU emissions trading: resistance or innovation in the oil industry?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 31-48, March.
    19. Masakazu Ogami, 2024. "The Conditionality of Political Short‐Termism: A Review of Empirical and Experimental Studies," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    20. Binh Hoang Duc & Khang Do Ba, 2017. "Business responses to climate change: strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam," Asia Pacific Business Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 596-620, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:65:y:2021:i:1:p:69-87. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5907 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.