Climate Change and Business

"This thoughtful, stimulating, collection of original papers, written by accomplished business historians, excels in exploring both the impact and responses of business over time to the evolving evidence and proliferating policies on climate change. Here there is a fresh perspective that includes but extends beyond the debates on environmental and fossil fuel programs to encompass agriculture (palm oil), industry (automobiles, alcoholic beverages), insurance, and tourism. The coverage is global, including special chapters on China and India. The result is a rich and ambitious set of contributions that reveals the complex, nuanced reciprocal historical influences of business and climate change."
Mira Wilkins,Professor of Economics Emeritus; Florida International University, USA

"As a scientist and business owner, I have found that for something real and game-changing to be implemented in the climate change sphere, we need businesses to incorporate climate thinking into every area, from production, to human resources, to sales and marketing. This book documents the trajectory of these initiatives in various industries and regions. It is an essential piece of reading for all of us today."
Dr. Laura Catena, Managing Director of Bodega Catena Zapata and founder of the Catena Institute of Wine in Mendoza, Argentina

"This edited volume, by Teresa da Silva Lopes, Paul Duguid, and Robert Fredona investigates the history of one of the biggest problems in the world today, climate change. The collected essays provide a critical perspective on the complex evolution of the problem itself, from nineteenth century awareness of weather changes and pollution hazards to modern efforts to collect data and enact policy changes to curb dependence on fossil fuels. These essays, many of which draw on archival sources, recast traditional histories of economic development by focusing on the consequences of industrial, agricultural, and technological change. They present a complex history of ways that firms have adapted to climate changes in the past and the ways that individual entrepreneurs have sought to abate environmental devastation in their industries. The essays also reveal how the effects of climate change have altered industries such as tourism and insurance and made other industries, such as winemaking, more vulnerable. Together the essays help to tell the multifaceted, non-linear, history that has led to this enormous global challenge."
Walter Friedman,Director of the Business History Initiative at Harvard Business School and co-editor of the journal Business History Review