Climate change is widely recognized as one of the most significant global challenges of our time, affecting not only academic discourse, but also policy makers, businesses, and society at large. However, despite its far-reaching implications, business historians have, for the most part, only touched upon the topic of climate change in their research. Since the 2000s their focus has largely remained on broader environmental and sustainability concerns (Rosen and Sellers, 1999; Rosen, 2007; Berghoff and Rome, 2017; Jones,2017, 2018, 2023; Bergquist, 2019a, 2019b).
This panel showcases some of the views of the new book ‘Climate Change and Business: Historical Perspectives” (Routledge, 2025, forthcoming). It seeks to explore the potential of establishing climate change and a central theme within business history. The panelists will discuss the significance and value of framing climate change and business history as a distinct and essential area of study. Additionally, they will evaluate the current state of research in this field and propose ways to advancing this emerging research agenda within business history.
The panel will feature leading business history scholars who are expanding their research to include climate change, building on their established expertise in traditional topics. Together, they will offer fresh perspectives on how business history can contribute to addressing the pressing challenges of climate change.
Some of the questions to be addressed by the panelists include:
1 – How did your area of expertise lead you to study climate change, and how has the industry/region/topic you analyse been affected by or contributed to climate change?
2 - From what point in time can we trace discussions related to the impacts of climate change on business?
3 - Can business history research offer new insights into the origins and consequences of climate on business, and vice versa?
4 - What patterns have emerged in terms of business strategies for dealing with climate-related issues?
5 - Apart from businesses, which other significant actors have historically influenced and been affected by climate change?
6 - How does business history contribute to the broader literature on climate change, and what new insights does climate change bring to business history?
Keywords: Climate change, future of business history, multinationals, stakeholders, governments
Panel format:
Chair: Teresa da Silva Lopes, University of York
Panelists:
Mary Yeager, University of California Los Angeles
Paul Duguid, University of California Berkeley
Andrea Lluch, University Los Andes
Niels Viggo-Haueter, University of York
Bart Elmore, Ohio State University
NOTE: Although the recommended panel size would ideally be four speakers, our goal with this panel is to facilitate shorter interventions and promote a more dynamic discussion. We take into account diverse perspectives and a broad range of topics associated with the panelists’ areas of specialization, all with the intention of keeping the audience engaged.
Short bios:
Bart Elmore is professor of environmental history and core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State University. He is an award-winning author of three books, Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism (W. W. Norton, 2014), Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future (W. W. Norton, 2021), and Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet (Ferris & Ferris, 2023). In 2022, he was honored with the Dan David Prize, the world’s largest history prize.
Teresa da Silva Lopes is a Professor of International Business and Business History at the School for Business and Society, University of York, and Director of the Centre for the Evolution of Global Business and Institutions (CEGBI). She is former President of the Business History Conference (BHC), the European Business History Association (EBHA), and the Association of Business Historian (ABH)>. She has published widely in the areas of international business history, international business, international marketing and strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation, globalisation, growth and survival of firms, and risk in international business, and is currently working on climate change and business history, and on business history and theory.
Paul Duguid is and emeritus professor from the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. He has investigated aspects of information that illuminate the world of business history, exploring in particular the history of brands, trademarks, advertising, and public relations. Recent work has looked at the relationship of information and propaganda and how these bear on ways businesses try to form a green identity.
Niels Viggo Haueter is an affiliate of the University of York's Centre for Evolution of Global Business and Institutions and deputy Chairman of the Academic Council at the European Association for Banking and Financial History in Frankfurt. He was a guest lecturer at several universities such as Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and Peking University School of Economics. He has published widely on insurance and reinsurance history, among other World Insurance - The Evolution of a Global Risk Network, published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in 2012 and Managing Risk in Reinsurance – From City Fires to Global Warming(OUP, 2017). He is also responsible for the reinsurance entries in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia on Business & Management.
Andrea Lluch is a Researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET) and a Professor at the National University of La Pampa in Argentina (on leave). She is also an Associate Professor and a member of the History, Business, and Entrepreneurship Research Group (GHE) at the School of Management, University of Los Andes - Colombia. PhD in History from the Universidad Nacional del Centro de Buenos Aires. She has done post-doctoral studies at Harvard University (Harvard Business Faculty (2006-2007) and is an Associate Researcher at DRCLAs-Harvard University (2009-). She was a former President of the Argentine Association of Economic History (2017-2021) and Past President of The Business History Conference (2021-2022). She has published several books, articles in international and national journals as well as book chapters on topics related to the business and economic history of Latin America and Argentina in the 20th century.
Mary A. Yeager is professor emerita of business and economic history in the history department at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her current research focuses on global capitalism, climate change, and the linkages between gender, feminism, and business, with particular attention to gender differences/similarities across a range of industries and cultures. Yeager served as president of the joint European/American Business History Conference in Miami 2015. Among her most significant publications are: “Margins and Centres: Gender and Feminism in Business History“ (Special Issue in Business History, DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2022.2125957); “Gender, Race, and Entrepreneurship,“ (The Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business, 1st edition, Teresa da Silva Lopes, Christina Lubinski, Heidi J.S. Tworek, editors (July 2019), 69-92); BHC-EBHA Presidential Address, “Women Change Everything,” (Enterprise & Society: The International Journal of Business Hisatory, Volume 16 , Issue 4 (December 2015), 744 – 769); “Mavericks and Mavens of Business History: Miriam Beard and Henrietta Larson,” (Enterprise & Society: The International Journal of Business History, Vol. 2, Issue 4 (December 2001), 687-768); Mary A. Yeager, ed., Women in Business, 3 vols. (Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: 1999), including the article “Will there Ever Be a Feminist Business History?”; Competition and Regulation: The Dynamics of Oligopoly in the Meat Packing Industry, 1870-1920 (Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, 1981, 1-296). Current projects include a forthcoming, commissioned contribution, “The Untenable Injustice of Climate Change”, for Routledge’s Business History and Climate Change, a longer book project about the first tenured woman at Harvard Business School, “In the Shadow of the Big Boys,” and a forthcoming commissioned article, “Birkenstock Identities”.