scholarly journals The Responsibilities of Carbon Major Companies: Are They (and Is the Law) Doing Enough?

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Wealth Maximization ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Shareholder Wealth Maximization ◽  
Royal Dutch Shell ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Corporate Social

AbstractTransnational carbon major companies are responsible for over 30% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions and exert tremendous influence over future global climate trajectories. Yet, they are not governed through top-down, stringent emissions limits, but are instead regulated largely by disclosure-only domestic requirements and market-based or voluntary corporate social responsibility mechanisms. Through an examination of the requirements of domestic laws such as the United Kingdom (UK) Climate Change Act 2008 and the UK Energy Act 2013, as well as the environmental and sustainability reports produced under the UK Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013, this article analyzes the regulatory requirements placed on carbon majors, and the climate change pledges and emissions of five UK-based carbon majors: BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, National Grid, and Centrica. The article concludes that the efforts to curb emissions in these carbon major entities are being subverted by company law, company theory and commercial norms such as shareholder wealth maximization.

scholarly journals Shareholder Wealth Maximization Under Leveraged Buyouts

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
William J. Bertin ◽  
Khalil M. Torabzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Leveraged Buyouts ◽  
Excess Returns ◽  
Leveraged Buyout ◽  
Wealth Maximization ◽  
Shareholder Wealth Maximization ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines the possible excess returns to stockholders arising from leveraged buyout transactions in an effort to determine whether or not such transactions are consistent with shareholder wealth maximization. In addition, the excess returns generated through leveraged buyouts are compared to those associated with typical, non-leveraged acquisitions. The implications of these comparisons are discussed with a special emphasis on the impact of leveraged buyouts upon investors wealth. The major finding of this study is that shareholder wealth is increased, but not necessarily maximized, under leveraged buyouts.

scholarly journals The Potential Impact of Climate Change on Oat Lodging in the UK and Republic of Ireland

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Mohammadi ◽  
John Finnan ◽  
Chris Baker ◽  
Mark Sterling
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
Growing Period ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Double Exponential ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines the impact that climate change may have on the lodging of oats in the Republic of Ireland and the UK. Through the consideration of a novel lodging model representing the motion of an oat plant due to the interaction of wind and rain and integrating future predictions of wind and rainfall due to climate change, appropriate conclusions have been made. In order to provide meteorological data for the lodging model, wind and rainfall inputs are analysed using 30 years’ time series corresponding to peak lodging months (June and July) from 38 meteorological stations in the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic, which enables the relevant probability density functions (PDFs) to be established. Moreover, climate data for the next six decades in the British Isles produced by UK climate change projections (UKCP18) are analysed, and future wind and rainfall PDFs are obtained. It is observed that the predicted changes likely to occur during the key growing period (June to July) in the next 30 years are in keeping with variations, which can occur due to different husbandry treatments/plant varieties. In addition, the utility of a double exponential function for representing the rainfall probability has been observed with appropriate values for the constants given.

scholarly journals Could the impaired intention of ethical investment be recovered?

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 736-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiung-Yao Huang ◽  
Yu-Cheng Lin ◽  
Chiung-Hui Chen
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Moral Intensity ◽  
Ethical Investment ◽  
Remedial Measures ◽  
British Petroleum ◽  
Wealth Maximization ◽  
Shareholder Wealth Maximization ◽  
Classical Economic ◽  
Ethical Investments

AbstractThe environmental pollution caused by Advanced Semiconductor Engineering in October 2013 in Taiwan highlighted the fact that foreign investors tend to support the classical economic ideas of arbitrage and shareholder wealth maximization, which is in conflict with the fact that institutional investors in the current global capital market lean towards the stakeholder theory in ethical investments. Will local investors’ decision-making also be influenced by differences in the perceived ethics of negative environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR)? Compared to the remedial measures implemented by British Petroleum for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, another international corporation, decided to not respond to any news regarding the toxic wastewater incident. In contrast, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering only made clearer promises after extreme public pressure. This study investigated whether remedial measures for negative ECSR are an important factor influencing investors’ decisions. The purpose is to clarify the interactions among perceived moral intensity of negative ECSR, the implementation of remedial measures, and the intention of ethical investment. An experimental design was employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that perceived moral intensity has a significant negative impact on the intention of ethical investment. The implementation of remedial measures for negative ECSR affects investors’ intent to invest. Finally, positive ECSR remedial measures also serve as a key moderating variable in the relationship between perceived moral intensity and the intention of ethical investment. This study clarified whether the provision of remedial mechanisms can effectively recover or maintain investor investment intent when companies experience negative ECSR.

Beyond Shareholder Wealth Maximization

1974 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Chapman Findlay ◽  
G. A. Whitmore
Keyword(s):  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Wealth Maximization ◽  
Shareholder Wealth Maximization

Stakeholder Happiness Enhancement: A Neo-Utilitarian Objective for the Modern Corporation

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Jones ◽  
Will Felps
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Wealth Maximization ◽  
Stakeholder Interests ◽  
Modern Corporation ◽  
Corporate Objective ◽  
Sequential Logic ◽  
Shareholder Wealth Maximization ◽  
Specific Alternative ◽  
Refined Version

ABSTRACT:Employing utilitarian criteria, Jones and Felps, in “Shareholder Wealth Maximization and Social Welfare: A Utilitarian Critique” (Business Ethics Quarterly 23[2]: 207–38), examined the sequential logic leading from shareholder wealth maximization to maximal social welfare and uncovered several serious empirical and conceptual shortcomings. After rendering shareholder wealth maximization seriously compromised as an objective for corporate operations, they provided a set of criteria regarding what a replacement corporate objective would look like, but do not offer a specific alternative. In this article, we draw on neo-utilitarian thought to advance a refined version of normative stakeholder theory that we believe addresses a major remaining criticism of extant versions, their lack of specificity. More particularly, we provide a single-valued objective function for the corporation—stakeholder happiness enhancement—that would allow managers to make principled choices between/among policy options when stakeholder interests conflict.

scholarly journals Integrating bioclimate with population models to improve forecasts of species extinctions under climate change

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry W. Brook ◽  
H. Resit Akçakaya ◽  
David A. Keith ◽  
Georgina M. Mace ◽  
Richard G. Pearson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Climate change is already affecting species worldwide, yet existing methods of risk assessment have not considered interactions between demography and climate and their simultaneous effect on habitat distribution and population viability. To address this issue, an international workshop was held at the University of Adelaide in Australia, 25–29 May 2009, bringing leading species distribution and population modellers together with plant ecologists. Building on two previous workshops in the UK and Spain, the participants aimed to develop methodological standards and case studies for integrating bioclimatic and metapopulation models, to provide more realistic forecasts of population change, habitat fragmentation and extinction risk under climate change. The discussions and case studies focused on several challenges, including spatial and temporal scale contingencies, choice of predictive climate, land use, soil type and topographic variables, procedures for ensemble forecasting of both global climate and bioclimate models and developing demographic structures that are realistic and species-specific and yet allow generalizations of traits that make species vulnerable to climate change. The goal is to provide general guidelines for assessing the Red-List status of large numbers of species potentially at risk, owing to the interactions of climate change with other threats such as habitat destruction, overexploitation and invasive species.

scholarly journals Are citizen juries and assemblies on climate change driving democratic climate policymaking? An exploration of two case studies in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Wells ◽  
Candice Howarth ◽  
Lina I. Brand-Correa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In light of increasing pressure to deliver climate action targets, and the growing role of citizens in raising the importance of the issue, deliberative democratic processes (e.g. Citizen Juries and Citizen Assemblies) on climate change are increasingly being used to provide a voice to citizens in climate change decision-making. Through a comparative case study of two processes that ran in the UK in 2019 (the Leeds Climate Change Citizens’ Jury and the Oxford Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change), this paper investigates how far Citizen Assemblies and Juries on climate change are increasing citizen engagement on climate change and creating more citizen-centred climate policy-making. Interviews were conducted with policy-makers, councillors, professional facilitators and others involved in running these processes to assess motivations for conducting these, their structure and the impact and influence they had. The findings suggest the impact of these processes is not uniform: they have an indirect impact on policymaking by creating momentum around climate action and supporting the introduction of pre-planned or pre-existing policies rather than a direct impact by being truly being citizen-centred policymaking processes or conducive to new climate policy. We conclude with reflections on how these processes give elected representatives a public mandate on climate change, that they help to identify more nuanced and in-depth public opinions in a fair and informed way, yet it can be challenging to embed citizen juries and assemblies in wider democratic processes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document