Climate Inaction in Business Management: An Exploratory Review of the Literature

Climate change is considered as one of the major threats for the international community due to its negative consequences in the financial, social, and environmental issues. Companies, who are considered as an essential element in the mitigation process, have exerted corporate inactivity to address climate change that has led to the increment of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contributing to climate change over the last decade. The objective of this review is to explore, summarize, and analyze the state of knowledge in the business and management literature about climate inaction that guides future researches to diminish this corporate inactivity, enhancing the practices aimed to reduce such emissions. The review was developed through the narrative method in order to acquire a broad perspective of the phenomenon through the examination of 24 articles from the Web of Science from 1998 to 2018. Our findings indicate that climate inaction is nascent and fragmented literature where the company is identified as one of the main actors, being this approach developed from different perspectives that guide to decrease such corporate inactivity, and motivating the corporate action. The inclusion of the concept of climate inaction might lead to an understanding of the mechanisms for climate mitigation, providing a guide for future research in the field of environmental performance.