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May the Forces be with you : A study of factors influencing companies transitioning to government-imposed net zero targets

The need to transition the global economy to net zero greenhouse gas emissions is clear. Commitments made by the majority of the world’s governments declare that a global net zero economy should be achieved by the middle of the century. What is less clear is how this transition should take place, or how these commitments impact companies. This paper explores senior management perspectives on a net zero transition, identifying drivers, enablers, and barriers to transitioning effectively. In line with Kurt Lewin’s work, we collectively refer to these as forces. Through 11 in-depth interviews and a quantitative survey to managers across several industries and geographies, we identify, rank, and visually conceptualise 26 forces that act on companies in the context of a net zero transition. The strongest driving force is ‘Societal awareness of climate change and net zero targets’, while the biggest current constraining force is ’Business priorities’. The force considered to have the single biggest potential impact is ‘government disincentives and bans’. Based on the collective analysis of our findings, there are possible policy implications that could be explored further in order to successfully manage a transition to net zero.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-478740
Date January 2022
CreatorsGreen Brzezinski, Jonatan, Kaftanoglu, Kamuran Kivanc
PublisherUppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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