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  • Fall 2020
  • Article
  • Daedalus

Climate in the Boardroom: Struggling to Reconcile Business as Usual & the End of the World as We Know It

By: Rebecca Henderson
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Abstract

How does one witness to businesspeople about climate change? Climate change is a problem for the collective and the long term, whereas business often requires a ruthless focus on the individual and the quarter. Climate change is an ethical catastrophe whose solution almost certainly requires a profoundly moral response, but talk of morality in the boardroom is often regarded with profound suspicion. Reconciling these tensions has forced me to navigate between worlds in an ongoing attempt to persuade businesspeople that solving climate change is both an economic and a moral necessity, and that the purpose of business is not only to make money but also to support the institutions that will enable us to build a sustainable world. This has not always been easy.

Keywords

Sustainable Business; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility And Impact; Environmental Sustainability

Citation

Henderson, Rebecca. "Climate in the Boardroom: Struggling to Reconcile Business as Usual & the End of the World as We Know It." Special Issue on Witnessing Climate Change. Daedalus 149, no. 4 (Fall 2020): 118–124.
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About The Author

Rebecca M. Henderson

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More from the Author

    • May 2020
    • AEA Papers and Proceedings

    Tackling Climate Change Requires Organizational Purpose

    By: Rebecca Henderson and George Serafeim
    • April 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World? Inside GPIF's Embrace of ESG

    By: Rebecca Henderson
    • January 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Climate Change in 2020: Implications for Business

    By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Sophus A. Reinert and Mariana Oseguera
More from the Author
  • Tackling Climate Change Requires Organizational Purpose By: Rebecca Henderson and George Serafeim
  • Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World? Inside GPIF's Embrace of ESG By: Rebecca Henderson
  • Climate Change in 2020: Implications for Business By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Sophus A. Reinert and Mariana Oseguera
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