Climate Economics with Arvid Viaene
A research-focused podcast on the economics of climate change and air pollution. Episodes are released every two weeks on Tuesday at 6 am CET. Episodes will be either expert interviews or solo explorations of key issues. Hosted by Dr. Arvid Viaene, a climate economist with a PhD from the University of Chicago. He has done research on the impacts of climate change on agriculture and mortality. His research on climate-related mortality has been published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, and he has advised the European Commission on the impacts of climate policy on firm competitiveness.
Climate Economics with Arvid Viaene
#28: Dr. Lily Hsueh - Corporations at Climate Crossroads: What Drives Real Emissions Cuts
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A lot of climate economics focuses on carbon pricing and carbon markets. But what happens when firms don’t face an explicit cap on emissions? Why do some companies make real operational changes, while others focus on pledges and disclosure?
In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Lily Hsueh to discuss her book Corporations at Climate Crossroads: Multi-Level Governance, Public Policy, and Global Climate Action. Lily argues that corporate climate behavior is shaped by a nested structure of governance: what happens inside the firm (leadership, incentives, organizational capabilities) interacts with domestic public policy and top-down global norms.
We talk about how to distinguish symbolic climate action from substantive emissions reductions, why managerial authority matters (data collection is not the same as decision power), and how domestic policy signals can change firm behavior. Lily also explains how she uses the Clean Power Plan as a quasi-experimental shock to identify mechanisms—and why “disclosure” isn’t enough without verification and accountability.
What we cover
- Why it’s misleading to treat firms as “unitary actors” (internal politics and incentives matter)
- How managerial capacity and complementary capabilities shape real climate outcomes
- The difference between pledges, disclosure, and measurable emissions reductions
- How domestic regulation and global norms influence corporate strategy
- Why corporations can engage and obstruct at the same time
- Why the next step is disclosure → verification → accountability
Links
Dr. Lily Hsueh’s website: https://www.lilyhsueh.com
Open-access book (MIT Press): https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/6016/C
For questions, comments or suggestions, you can contact me at arvid.viaene.ce@gmail.com