[Media note: Vanderbilt has a satellite broadcast studio and can facilitate ISDN radio interviews.]
As major oil and gas companies begin to make greater commitments to researching and addressing climate change, many are questioning how effective those efforts will be.
Michael Vandenbergh, the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair of Law at Vanderbilt and director of the Climate Change Research Network, can provide context to this story as an expert in private climate governance. Vandenbergh is the co-author of a new book, Beyond Politics: The Private Governance Response to Climate Change (Cambridge Unviersity Press, 2017), in which he and Vanderbilt Earth and environmental scientist Jonathan Gilligan show how private sector initiatives can achieve a billion tons per year in additional greenhouse gas emissions reductions each year over the next decade.
Vandenbergh says these corporate steps are part of a new global movement toward private climate governance. “This effort by the global petroleum industry is consistent with a broader trend among companies in many sectors. These companies are taking climate mitigation steps even if governments are not requiring them to do so. Hundreds of companies in many sectors have committing to greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and renewable power targets, and they are extending the influence of these targets by including climate targets in their supply chains. These private climate governance initiatives are not a perfect or complete response to climate change, but they are a good second-best, gap-filling option that can buy time while governments try to secure the political support for more comprehensive action.
However, he says, much remains to be seen about the recent efforts major oil companies are making. “This could be an important positive step for global climate mitigation efforts, but the devil will be in the details,” he says. His questions include:
- What actual commitments will they make?
- What type of third-party monitoring will they allow to ensure that this is not greenwashing?
- What will the effect of these private efforts be on international, national and subnational government climate mitigation actions?
- Will the participating companies commit not to engage in lobbying that undercuts their private commitments?
- If they support a carbon tax, will it be at a high enough level to yield emissions reductions necessary to achieve a 2°C future?
- Will they impose emissions reduction requirements on suppliers?
- Will they share carbon mitigation technologies, expertise, and resources with smaller firms in the petroleum sector and with other sectors?
- Will they assist developing countries in developing greater energy sources without relying on fossil fuels?
- Will they commit to weaning the planet from fossil fuels over the long term?
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