The virtue of corporate carbon management

Abstract

In management literature, many studies claim that there is a business case for companies to address climate change through adequate carbon management strategies. We argue that corporate carbon management is not limited to mitigation efforts internally but also comprises of supply chain optimisations, product-related improvements, and compensation activities. Taking a clear business standpoint, we ask whether such carbon management efforts in a life-cycle wide context are also relevant for corporate competitiveness. Drawing on the industrial organisation (IO) literature, we derive a framework of eight distinct carbon management strategies. For each strategy we elaborate on its potential contribution to generating a competitive advantage and illustrate this with empirical examples of companies already pursuing such strategies.