Investigating Networks of Corporate Influence on Government Decision-Making: The Case of Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Policies

Investigating Networks of Corporate Influence on Government Decision-Making: The Case of Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Policies
Lucas, Adam. (2021). Energy Research & Social Science. Vol. 81. No. 102271. November. (Article - Journal; English).

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Alternative Locations

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629621003649?dgcid=author

Abstract or Brief Description

This paper argues that the ability of dominant corporations in the fossil fuel and other polluting industries to shape government policy on climate change and energy issues is directly related to their financial interests in particular countries, and emblematic of the crippling effect which they have exercised on the ability of nation states to decarbonise. Using Australia as an exemplar of the many favourable policy outcomes which powerful corporate interests have secured from successive governments in relation to climate and energy policy, it seeks to demonstrate that covert networks of political influence have played a major role in the decisions made and actions implemented in both areas of policymaking over the last fifteen years. Through detailed empirical analysis of a database of current and former senior politicians, political staffers and bureaucrats with employment links to the fossil fuel and resource extraction industries, it argues that these industries have constructed a covert network of lobbyists and revolving door appointments which has ensured that industry interests continue to dominate Australia’s energy policy, and that its emissions from fossil fuel use continue to rise. Covert corporate influence in Australia’s energy and resource sectors provides an additional layer of explanation for the persistence of structural biases in its financing, policy and regulatory regimes to those accounts which draw on different forms of discourse and policy analysis.

Language

English

Publication Type

Article - Journal

Keywords

Australia capital as power climate corporation energy environment fossil fuel network policy

Subject

BN Law
BN Money & Finance
BN Power
BN Policy
BN Region - Pacific
BN Agency
BN State & Government
BN Business Enterprise
BN Capital & Accumulation
BN Conflict & Violence
BN Ecology & Environment
BN Industrial Organization
BN Institutions

Depositing User

Jonathan Nitzan

Date Deposited

05 Oct 2021 18:23

Last Modified

05 Oct 2021 18:23

URL:

https://bnarchives.yorku.ca/id/eprint/711

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