CICERO Research Archive (CICERO Senter for klimaforskning)
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Corporate social responsibility disclosure, media reports, and enterprise innovation: Evidence from chinese listed companies
No full textGiven the limited response of enterprises to China’s national policy on the compulsory disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR), a deviation has occurred between policy orientation and reality. To explore the reasons behind this deviation, we investigated whether different types of media reports play an intermediary role in the process of CSR affecting corporate innovation based on the data of the companies listed on China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2019. The results show that the disclosure of CSR by the listed companies can significantly promote corporate innovation, which provides theoretical support for the national compulsory disclosure of CSR. Newspaper media reports and online media reports not only directly promote corporate innovation but also form a positive mediation path in the CSR disclosure and the promotion of corporate innovation. Further analysis shows that, among the five aspects of CSR, the disclosure of employee responsibility had the greatest effect on the corporate innovation, whereas the disclosure of social contribution responsibility only had a short-term inhibitory effect. Both newspaper media and online media reports on CSR disclosure were beneficial to corporate innovation. Positive and neutral reports may play the role of media governance to promote corporate innovation, whereas negative reports can restrain corporate innovation due to the market pressure effect produced by them, which also provides the basis for media supervision by the statepublishedVersio
Adaptation confusion? A longitudinal examination of the concept “climate change adaptation” in Norwegian municipal surveys.
Get PDFIn recent decades there has been a surge in the scholarship on climate change adaptation (CCA) terminology, and diverging interpretations of the term have emerged. Given the crucial role of local governments in building societywide adaptive capacity, understanding how municipalities understand and interpret CCA is important. In this study, we analyze 12 large-scale questionnaires from 2007 to 2020 distributed to all Norwegian municipalities. Using a combination of directed and conventional content analysis of the questions and answers, we summarize and map the progress of adaptation work over the 14 years and assess the consistency and the scope of the surveys in light of the current research on climate adaptation. We find diverging views on what adaptation entails, both from the researchers, in the phrasing of questions, and from the respondents. The empirical evidence suggests an overall imbalanced interpretation of CCA, in terms of the risks and consequences we may face, the climate to which adapting is needed, and adequate adaptation strategies. We go on to discuss the implications of these findings, highlighting the need for a shared and well-communicated framework for local CCA and a closer monitoring of the actual efforts of the municipalities. If instead left unchecked, this confusion might lead to unsustainable maladaptation at the local government level throughout Norway and beyond.publishedVersio
The EU needs a demand-driven innovation policy for climate services
Get PDFClimate services have climbed high on the agenda of EU research policy, yet few contributions have reflected on the actual usability of climate services from the perspectives of the intended users, let alone the implications for future EU research and innovation policy. This commentary reflects on four key lessons learnt from engagement in climate services research projects and discusses implications for future EU research policy: i) all end-users have pre-established decision-making processes and tools for their purposes, hence all new information needs to be adapted ii) one size fits none – and tailoring takes time iii) building trust between different actors, processes and confidence in new information is key in the tailoring process – and resource-demanding iv) purveyors and in- termediaries can facilitate tailoring processes but need to finance their activities until end-users demonstrate willingness to pay and/or the climate service is readily implemented. The main argument is that more attention needs to be paid to the demand-side of climate services to help viable climate services make it through the innovation “valley of death” – that is, the twilight zone between technical invention and (commercially) suc- cessful innovation. EU Research and Innovation (R&I) funding streams and policies for establishing truly transdisciplinary learning loops driven by (actual) user needs can function as vehicles through the valley of deathpublishedVersio
Looking back and looking forward—adapting to extreme weather events in municipalities in western Norway
Get PDFIn October 2014, an extreme precipitation event hit western Norway, which caused flooding, landslides and severe damage to infrastructure and houses. Climate model projections for western Norway show that heavy precipitation events, such as the one in 2014, will increase in frequency and intensity in the future. This paper discusses barriers to proactive adaptation to high-impact weather events in two municipalities in western Norway. Interviews were conducted with representatives from municipalities in this region to understand the adaptation measures the municipalities had implemented after this event and the barriers to proactive adaptation to extreme events in the future. We found that the key barriers to proactive adaptation are lack of resources, lack of knowledge and lack of willingness to adapt. The magnitude of the event meant that only a few of the informants expected the municipality to be hit by such an extreme event again in the near future, and as such, they did not see a need for major adaptation measures. Further, some assumed that the municipality was sufficiently protected because their areas either were not directly affected or were secured after the event. Finally, some interviewees assumed that it is not possible to adapt to such high-magnitude events.publishedVersio
The impact of public health messaging and personal experience on the acceptance of mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFFace coverings have been shown to slow the spread of COVID-19, yet their use is not universal and remains controversial in the United States. Designing effective nudges for widespread adoption is important when federal mandates are politically or legally infeasible. We report the results from a survey experiment in which subjects were exposed to one of three video messages from President Trump, and then indicated their preference for wearing a mask. In the first video, the President simply recited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. In the second, the President additionally emphasized that wearing a mask is optional. In the third video, the President added that he will not personally wear a mask. We find that exposure to presidential messages can increase the stated likelihood of wearing a mask—particularly among the President’s supporters. We also explore experiential effects of COVID-19, and find that people (especially supporters of the President) are more likely to support wearing a mask if they know someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. These results offer guidance to policy makers and practitioners interested in understanding the factors that influence viral risk mitigation strategies.publishedVersio
Klar for 55? EUs nye klimaregelverk og betydningen for Norge
Get PDFKlimaregelverket er en sentral del av ‘Klar for 55’-pakken og EUs grønne giv (European Green Deal – EGD). I denne rapporten fokuserer vi på sentrale foreslåtte endringer av dette regelverket, og mulige implikasjoner for Norge. Forslagene for kvotesystemet og innsatsfordelingsforordningen utgjør ikke radikale endringer for Norge og har relativt bred støtte. Derimot er forslaget for arealbrukssektoren mer kontroversielt. Det vil være svært krevende for Norge å nå målene for innsatsfordelingsforordningen og arealbrukssektoren. Norge bør likevel være varsom med å legge opp til mye bruk av fleksible mekanismer. Det blir viktig å følge med på det store bildet, som samspillseffekter med andre deler av EGD, hestehandler mellom land, Brexit og internasjonal politikk. EGD og det omkringliggende politiske landskapet er komplekst og utfordrer eksisterende måter å jobbe på. Vi håper denne rapporten gir et tidlig kunnskapsbidrag til debatten om- og arbeidet med EGD.publishedVersio
Land cover change in low-warming scenarios may enhance the climate role of secondary organic aerosols
Get PDFMost socioeconomic pathways compatible with the aims of the Paris Agreement include large changes to land use and land cover. The associated vegetation changes can interact with the atmosphere and climate through numerous mechanisms. One of these is emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which may lead to the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) and atmospheric chemistry changes. Here, we use a modeling framework to explore potential future global and regional changes in SOA and tropospheric ozone following idealized, large-scale vegetation perturbations, and their resulting radiative forcing (RF). Guided by projections in low-warming scenarios, we modify crop and forest cover, separately, and in concurrence with changes in anthropogenic emissions and CO2 level. We estimate that increasing global forest cover by 30% gives a 37% higher global SOA burden, with a resulting forcing of −0.13 W m−2. The effect on tropospheric ozone is relatively small. Large SOA burden changes of up to 48% are simulated for South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Conversely, increasing crop cover at the expense of tropical forest, yields similar changes but of opposite sign. The magnitude of these changes is strongly affected by the concurrent evolution of anthropogenic emissions. Our land cover perturbations are representative of energy crop expansion and afforestation, two key mitigation measures in 1.5 °C compatible scenarios. Our results hence indicate that depending on the role of these two in the underlying mitigation strategies, scenarios with similar long-term global temperature levels could lead to opposite effects on SOA. Combined with the complexity of factors that control SOA, this highlights the importance of including BVOC effects in further studies and assessments of climate and air quality mitigation involving the land surface.publishedVersio
Similar patterns of tropical precipitation and circulation changes under solar and greenhouse gas forcing
Get PDFTheory and model evidence indicate a higher global hydrological sensitivity for the same amount of surface warming to solar as to greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing, but regional patterns are highly uncertain due to their dependence on circulation and dynamics. We analyse a multi-model ensemble of idealized experiments and a set of simulations of the last millennium and we demonstrate similar global signatures and patterns of forced response in the tropical Pacific, of higher sensitivity for the solar forcing. In the idealized simulations, both solar and GHG forcing warm the equatorial Pacific, enhance precipitation in the central Pacific, and weaken and shift the Walker circulation eastward. Centennial variations in the solar forcing over the last millennium cause similar patterns of enhanced equatorial precipitation and slowdown of the Walker circulation in response to periods with stronger solar forcing. Similar forced patterns albeit of considerably weaker magnitude are identified for variations in GHG concentrations over the 20th century, with the lower sensitivity explained by fast atmospheric adjustments. These findings differ from previous studies that have typically suggested divergent responses in tropical precipitation and circulation between the solar and GHG forcings. We conclude that tropical Walker circulation and precipitation might be more susceptible to solar variability rather than GHG variations during the last-millennium, assuming comparable global mean surface temperature changes.publishedVersio
Modifying emissions scenario projections to account for the effects of COVID-19: Protocol for CovidMIP
No full textLockdowns to avoid the spread of COVID-19 have created an unprecedented reduction in human emissions. While the country-level scale of emissions changes can be estimated in near real time, the more detailed, gridded emissions estimates that are required to run general circulation models (GCMs) of the climate will take longer to collect. In this paper we use recorded and projected country-and-sector activity levels to modify gridded predictions from the MESSAGE-GLOBIOM SSP2-4.5 scenario. We provide updated projections for concentrations of greenhouse gases, emissions fields for aerosols, and precursors and the ozone and optical properties that result from this. The code base to perform similar modifications to other scenarios is also provided. We outline the means by which these results may be used in a model intercomparison project (CovidMIP) to investigate the impact of national lockdown measures on climate, including regional temperature, precipitation, and circulation changes. This includes three strands: an assessment of short-term effects (5-year period) and of longer-term effects (30 years) and an investigation into the separate effects of changes in emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. This last strand supports the possible attribution of observed changes in the climate system; hence these simulations will also form part of the Detection and Attribution Model Intercomparison Project (DAMIP).publishedVersio
Perspective of comprehensive and comprehensible multi-model energy and climate science in Europe
Get PDFEurope’s capacity to explore the envisaged pathways that achieve its near- and long-term energy and climate objectives needs to be significantly enhanced. In this perspective, we discuss how this capacity is supported by energy and climate-economy models, and how international modelling teams are organised within structured communication channels and consortia as well as coordinate multi-model analyses to provide robust scientific evidence. Noting the lack of such a dedicated channel for the highly active yet currently fragmented European modelling landscape, we highlight the importance of transparency of modelling capabilities and processes, harmonisation of modelling parameters, disclosure of input and output datasets, interlinkages among models of different geographic granularity, and employment of models that transcend the highly harmonised core of tools used in model inter-comparisons. Finally, drawing from the COVID-19 pandemic, we discuss the need to expand the modelling comfort zone, by exploring extreme scenarios, disruptive innovations, and questions that transcend the energy and climate goals across the sustainability spectrum. A comprehensive and comprehensible multi-model framework offers a real example of “collective” science diplomacy, as an instrument to further support the ambitious goals of the EU Green Deal, in compliance with the EU claim to responsible research.publishedVersio