Capitalism and the Environment from Stockholm to COP28: New historical research on the role of business and labor
Keynote speakers:
- Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
- Glenda Sluga, Professor of International History and Capitalism, European University Institute, Florence
University of Lausanne, Switzerland, November 9 and 10, 2023
The aim of this conference is to bring together recent, evidence-based historical research on the role business and labor actors played in climate and environmental policies during the period that runs from the United Nation’s Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, in 1972, until the Conference of the Parties to be held in the United Arab Emirates in November this year. We invite submissions that focus attention on the political actions or social practices of individual corporations, CEOs, business organizations or federations, consultants, scientific experts, labor unions, workers’ coalitions, whistleblowers, etc. How did these corporate and labor actors react to the growing public attention given to human-made environmental degradation since the 1960s? How did they position themselves towards scientific evidence on climate change? What kind of transnational networks were established between actors in Europe or North America and groups in the Global South? In what circumstances did organized labor oppose the regulation of various types of pollution to the preservation of economic growth and jobs? What impact did neoliberal paradigms have on the integration of business actors into global climate governance? What strategies were put into place to influence regulations of air and water pollution on a national level? Were there conflicts between different business and labor actors on these strategies? How did lobbying influence the work of international organizations or domestic political processes?
It is therefore not the history of technological innovation or management practices that is at the center of this conference, but that of power relations involving business and labor.
We welcome proposals of max. one page that state the . . . READ MORE