The Corporate Greenhouse

Climate Change Policy in a Globalizing World

Yda Schreuder

As negotiations proceed for the post-Kyoto climate change regime, major obstacles stand in the path to their successful completion.

The Corporate Greenhouse addresses the political economy of the climate change debate, questioning the disconnect between the current negotiation framework, based around the nation-state, and the neoliberal policies driving the world economy, organized around transnational corporations. Given the rapidly growing economic power and expanding carbon footprint of China, India and other developing economies, the debate on 'who is to blame, and who is to pay' can no longer be ignored.

Carefully researched and sourced from original work and case studies, The Corporate Greenhouse explores the geopolitical division between North and South; questions the sustainability of capitalism in the current global economic environment; examines the impact of TNCs on worldwide CO2 emissions; and discusses the expected outcome of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on corporate investment strategies.

This timely book argues that treaties that fail to account properly for the activities of TNCs will preclude effective, equitable solutions to the urgent issue of global climate change.

Reviews

'Schreuder authoritatively surveys the political and economic hurdles facing efforts to reduce carbon emissions, establish carbon-trading schemes, and combat slow global warming-with special emphasis on the roles and responsibilities of transnational corporations. I recommend it highly: it is vital, insightful reading for anyone interested in carbon trading, climate mitigation, international relations, and the pervasive role of mega-corporations in our world today.' - William F. Laurance, Senior Research Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama

'What a timely book. By situating the debate on climate negotiations in the broader context of globalisation, liberalisation and intensified competition, the text highlights the ambiguous roles that corporations are playing in shaping the prospects for and the impacts of climate change agreements. This book highlights how, with the right sort of global deal and appropriate frameworks for global governance, corporations could play a much more active role in the search for solutions.'- Prof Andy Gouldson, Co-Director - Sustainability Research Institute Director - ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy School of Earth and Environment University of Leeds

'Attempts to slow the relentless rise in greenhouse gas emissions, so bravely begun in 1992, have almost completely failed, and the world now faces an urgent climate crisis. In The Corporate Greenhouse, Yda Schreuder makes a closely argued case that a primary reason for this failure is that policy makers have failed to address fully the real conditions of the global economy, where power has increasingly been in the hands of transnational corporations rather than governments and the peoples they are supposed to represent. In the wake of the global financial crisis and in the early days of a new U.S. administration, this book offers valuable insights into what has gone wrong with climate policy in the past, and where solutions may lie.'- Caspar Henderson

Preface

1. Climate Change Policy in a Globalizing World
2. From Rio to Kyoto and Beyond
3. Trade Liberalization, Economic Development and the Environment
4. The Transnational Corporation and the Global Economy
5. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme in the Corporate Greenhouse
6. The Clean Development Mechanism in the Corporate Greenhouse
7. Towards a More Equitable and Sustainable Climate Change Regime

Index
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Appendix

About the Author:

Yda Schreuder, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Geography and a Senior Policy Fellow in the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware, U.S.A. She has written several articles (together with Christopher Sherry) on the topic 'The Corporate Greenhouse' and has explored the economic geographic implications of the UNFCCC climate change policy regime and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on global shifts in production and relocation of energy-intensive industries. She has co-authored and published her work on the Corporate Greenhouse in the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, and Energy and Environment.

The Corporate Greenhouse

Climate Change Policy in a Globalizing World

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