| 1. |
- Crona, Beatrice, et al.
(författare)
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The Anthropocene reality of financial risk
- 2021
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Ingår i: One Earth. - : Elsevier BV. - 2590-3330 .- 2590-3322. ; 4:5, s. 618-628
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Globally, financial services are well positioned to contribute to the transformation needed for sustainable futures and will be critical for supporting corporate activities that regenerate and promote biosphere resilience as a key strategy to confront the new risk landscape of the Anthropocene. While current financial risk frameworks focus primarily on financial materiality and risks to the financial sector, failure to account for investment externalities will aggravate climate and other environmental change and set current sustainable finance initiatives off course. This article unpacks the cognitive disconnect in financial risk frameworks between environmental and financial risk. Through analysis of environmental, social, and governance ratings and estimates of global green investments, we exemplify how the cognitive disconnect around risk plays out in practice. We discuss what this means for the ability of society at large, and finance in particular, to deliver on sustainability ambitions and global goals.
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| 2. |
- Dauriach, Alice, 1991-
(författare)
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Financial institutions, companies, and the biosphere
- 2022
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- International organisations, governments and civil society have become increasingly vocal in their demands that financial institutions take social and environmental responsibility for the companies they invest in. Some financial institutions have started to assume this responsibility in practice by building international alliances and standards, by reallocating their capital, and by trying to influence corporate policies towards environmental and social goals. Through their ability to allocate and price capital, financial institutions are sometimes believed to be a leverage point to enact rapid and large-scale change towards sustainability. The influence these financial institutions have is still under-researched, however, especially on companies in sectors associated with changes in the biosphere which pose severe risks to human development. In this thesis, I ask: to what extent can financial institutions advance biosphere-based sustainability through their investments in companies? I have three main aims. The first one is to identify key companies and financial institutions which can be linked to changes in the biosphere that pose severe risks to human wellbeing. I select the most critical commodity production sectors driving large-scale biosphere change using insights from social-ecological systems science. I focus on economic activities that result in anthropogenic land use changes that either affect known tipping points in the climate system (the Amazon rainforest), or that increase the risk of emergence and re-emergence of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases. The second aim is to develop methods to assess the degree of influence that financial institutions have on corporate activities, drawing from finance research and management theory. I investigate the relationship between financial institutions and large companies, and especially to what extent companies are reliant on different financial flows for their operations, in order to determine through which mechanisms financial institutions could exert influence on them, if at all. Assessing the potential influence of financial institutions on companies requires combining existing methods and bringing together disconnected sources of data about environmental impact, business activity, investments, and financing sources. The third aim is to analyse what factors pose limits to financial influence.Paper 1 analyses the role played by financial institutions as owners in industries associated with anthropogenic land use changes and, as a result, increased zoonotic disease risks. We identify publicly listed companies present in nine regional case studies, as well as the financial institutions that invest in them. We analyse those financial institutions’ potential influence based on both their ownership size and their position in the network of owners.Paper 2 examines the origin of loans obtained by all companies operating in the high deforestation-risk sectors of mineral production, soy trade or cattle trade in the Brazilian Amazon. We assess to what extent companies rely on relatively unaccountable sources of credit, notably credit from secrecy jurisdictions and transnational intra-company credit, which may limit the potential for influence from financial institutions.In conclusion, I find that financial institutions have an important role to play in many sectors and regions analysed, but that this role is limited by a number of factors. These factors include the prevalence of non-financial shareholders in some companies, especially in case studies in the Global South, and the reliance of companies on internal finance and financial flows from secrecy jurisdictions. Companies themselves, and the inner workings of their corporate groups – their private owners, their subsidiaries in various countries, their ethical stance – seem to also be of great importance.
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| 3. |
- Folke, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Our future in the Anthropocene biosphere
- 2021
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 50:4, s. 834-869
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding to such change for global sustainability and resilient societies. We provide a systemic overview of the current situation where people and nature are dynamically intertwined and embedded in the biosphere, placing shocks and extreme events as part of this dynamic; humanity has become the major force in shaping the future of the Earth system as a whole; and the scale and pace of the human dimension have caused climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity, growing inequalities, and loss of resilience to deal with uncertainty and surprise. Taken together, human actions are challenging the biosphere foundation for a prosperous development of civilizations. The Anthropocene reality-of rising system-wide turbulence-calls for transformative change towards sustainable futures. Emerging technologies, social innovations, broader shifts in cultural repertoires, as well as a diverse portfolio of active stewardship of human actions in support of a resilient biosphere are highlighted as essential parts of such transformations.
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| 4. |
- Folke, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 3:10, s. 1396-1403
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainability within planetary boundaries requires concerted action by individuals, governments, civil society and private actors. For the private sector, there is concern that the power exercised by transnational corporations generates, and is even central to, global environmental change. Here, we ask under which conditions transnational corporations could either hinder or promote a global shift towards sustainability. We show that a handful of transnational corporations have become a major force shaping the global intertwined system of people and planet. Transnational corporations in agriculture, forestry, seafood, cement, minerals and fossil energy cause environmental impacts and possess the ability to influence critical functions of the biosphere. We review evidence of current practices and identify six observed features of change towards 'corporate biosphere stewardship', with significant potential for upscaling. Actions by transnational corporations, if combined with effective public policies and improved governmental regulations, could substantially accelerate sustainability efforts.
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| 5. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Can web crawlers revolutionize ecological monitoring?
- 2010
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Ingår i: Frontiers in ecology and the environment. - : Wiley. - 1540-9295. ; 8:2, s. 99-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite recent advances, ecosystem service monitoring is limited by insufficient data, the complexity of social–ecological systems, and poor integration of information that tracks changes in ecosystems and economic activities. However, new information and communication technologies are revolutionizing the generation of, and access to, such data. Can researchers who are interested in ecological monitoring tap into these increased flows of information by “mining” the internet to detect “early-warning” signs that may signal abrupt ecological changes? Here, we explore the possibility of using web crawlers and internet-based information to complement conventional ecological monitoring, with a special emphasis on the prospects for avoiding “late warnings”, that is, when ecosystems have already shifted to less desirable states. Using examples from coral reef ecosystems, we explore the untapped potential, as well as the limitations, of relying on web-based information to monitor ecosystem services and forewarn us of negative ecological shifts.
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| 6. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Finance and the Earth system – Exploring the links between financial actors and non-linear changes in the climate system
- 2018
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Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-3780 .- 1872-9495. ; 53, s. 296-302
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Financial actors and capital play a key role in extractive economic activities around the world, as well as in current efforts to avoid dangerous climate change. Here, in contrast to standard approaches in finance, sustainability and climate change, we elaborate in what ways financial actors affect key biomes around the world, and through this known “tipping elements” in the Earth system. We combine Earth system and sustainability sciences with corporate finance to develop a methodology that allows us to link financial actors to economic activities modifying biomes of key importance for stabilizing Earth's climate system. Our analysis of key owners of companies operating in the Amazon rainforest (Brazil) and boreal forests (Russia and Canada) identifies a small set of international financial actors with considerable, but as of yet unrealized, globally spanning influence. We denote these “Financial Giants” and elaborate how incentives and disincentives currently influence their potential to bolster or undermine the stability of the Earth's climate system.
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| 7. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Global networks and global change-induced tipping points
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Environmental Agreements. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1567-9764 .- 1573-1553. ; 16:2, s. 189-221
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The existence of tipping points in human-environmental systems at multiple scales-such as abrupt negative changes in coral reef ecosystems, runaway climate change, and interacting nonlinear planetary boundariesaEurois often viewed as a substantial challenge for governance due to their inherent uncertainty, potential for rapid and large system change, and possible cascading effects on human well-being. Despite an increased scholarly and policy interest in the dynamics of these perceived tipping points, institutional and governance scholars have yet to make progress on how to analyze in which ways state and non-state actors attempt to anticipate, respond, and prevent the transgression of tipping points at large scales. In this article, we use three cases of global network responses to what we denote as global change-induced tipping pointsaEuroocean acidification, fisheries collapse, and infectious disease outbreaks. Based on the commonalities in several research streams, we develop four working propositions: information processing and early warning, multilevel and multinetwork responses, diversity in response capacity, and the balance between efficiency and legitimacy. We conclude by proposing a simple framework for the analysis of the interplay between perceived global change-induced tipping points, global networks, and international institutions.
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| 8. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Planetary Boundaries - Exploring the Challenges for Global Environmental Governance
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A range of studies from Earth system scientists argue that human activities drives multiple, interacting effects that cascade through the Earth system. Recent contributions state and quantify nine, interacting «planetary boundaries» with possible threshold effects. This article provides an overview of the Earth system governance challenges that follow from this notion of multiple, interacting and possibly non-linear «planetary boundaries». Here we discuss four interrelated global governance challenges, as well as some possible ways to address them in future research. The four identified challenges are related to 1) the interplay between Earth system science and global policies; 2) the capacity of international institutions to deal with individual planetary boundaries, as well as interactions between them; 3) the role of international organizations in dealing with planetary boundaries interactions; and 4) the role of Earth system governance in framing social-ecological innovations.
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| 9. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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'Planetary boundaries' - exploring the challenges for global environmental governance
- 2012
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Ingår i: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 4:1, s. 80-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A range of studies from Earth system scientists argue that human activities drive multiple, interacting effects that cascade through the Earth system. Recent contributions state and quantify nine, interacting 'planetary boundaries' with possible threshold effects. This article provides an overview of the global governance challenges that follow from this notion of multiple, interacting and possibly non-linear 'planetary boundaries'. Here we discuss four interrelated global environmental governance challenges, as well as some possible ways to address them. The four identified challenges are related to, first, the interplay between Earth system science and global policies, and the implications of differences in risk perceptions in defining these boundaries; second, the capacity of international institutions to deal with individual 'planetary boundaries', as well as interactions between them; third, the role of international organizations in dealing with 'planetary boundaries' interactions; and fourth, the role of global governance in framing social ecological innovations.
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| 10. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Polycentric systems and interacting planetary boundaries : Emerging governance of climate change—ocean acidification—marine biodiversity
- 2012
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Ingår i: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8009 .- 1873-6106. ; 81, s. 21-32
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Planetary boundaries and their interactions pose severe challenges for global environmental governance due to their inherent uncertainties and complex multi-scale dynamics. Here we explore the global governance challenge posed by planetary boundaries interactions by focusing on the role of polycentric systems and order, a theoretical field that has gained much interest in the aftermath of claims of a stagnant UN-process. In the first part we work toward a clarification of polycentric order in an international context, and develop three propositions. We then present a case study of the emergence of international polycentricity to address interacting planetary boundaries, namely the climate change, ocean acidification and loss of marine biodiversity complex. This is done through a study of the Global Partnership on Climate, Fisheries and Aquaculture (PaCFA) initiative. As the case study indicates, a range of mechanisms of polycentric order (ranging from information sharing to coordinated action and conflict resolution) operates at the international level through the interplay between individuals, international organizations and their collaboration patterns. While polycentric coordination of this type certainly holds potential, it is also vulnerable to internal tensions, unreliable external flows of funding, and negative institutional interactions.
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