From Contingency Management to Transformative Climate Risk Adaptation? Analysis of Private Sector Agency in Navigating Complex Climate Risk Realities

The growing complexity and severity of cross-border climate risks characterised by non-linear impact chains and deep uncertainty questions the capacity of environmental governance to tackle these problems effectively and in a just manner. To increase the efficiency of climate action, the private sector has been called upon to leverage market-based solutions and technologies especially with regards to emission reduction. However, the extent to which this approach is viable in addressing more complex climate risks is not clear. We examine the sustainability argumentation of 10 Finnish companies to see how the understanding of climate risks critically shapes their strategic agency. We argue that while some companies are embracing more transformative climate strategies, their assumed roles and responsibilities are caught with the traditional and reactive sustainability discourse underpinned by ideas of ecological modernisation and rationales of risk governance. This effectively curtails their agency and contributes to unresponsiveness to new climate risk realities.