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Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 3, pages 1396–1403 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Sustainability within planetary boundaries requires concerted action by individuals, governments, civil society and private actors. For the private sector, there is concern that the power exercised by transnational corporations generates, and is even central to, global environmental change. Here, we ask under which conditions transnational corporations could either hinder or promote a global shift towards sustainability. We show that a handful of transnational corporations have become a major force shaping the global intertwined system of people and planet. Transnational corporations in agriculture, forestry, seafood, cement, minerals and fossil energy cause environmental impacts and possess the ability to influence critical functions of the biosphere. We review evidence of current practices and identify six observed features of change towards ‘corporate biosphere stewardship’, with significant potential for upscaling. Actions by transnational corporations, if combined with effective public policies and improved governmental regulations, could substantially accelerate sustainability efforts.

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Fig. 1: The biosphere in the hands of a few.

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Acknowledgements

We are truly indebted to K. Arrow for deep insights and for inspiring our discussions at the annual Askö meetings in the Stockholm archipelago. Thanks also to K. Nyborg, S. Barrett and P. Ehrlich for valuable comments. Support is gratefully acknowledged from The Beijer Foundation, The Erling-Persson Family Foundation, The Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Mistra: The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

    Carl Folke, John M. Anderies, Anne-Sophie Crépin & Victor Galaz

  2. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Carl Folke, Henrik Österblom, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Beatrice I. Crona, Magnus Nyström, Anne-Sophie Crépin, Victor Galaz & Line J. Gordon

  3. Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere Academy Program, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

    Carl Folke, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Beatrice I. Crona, Alice Dauriach, Victor Galaz & James R. Watson

  4. School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Eric F. Lambin

  5. Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Eric F. Lambin

  6. Georges Lemaître Earth and Climate Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Eric F. Lambin

  7. Geography, College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    W. Neil Adger

  8. Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

    Marten Scheffer

  9. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Simon A. Levin

  10. Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Stephen R. Carpenter

  11. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    John M. Anderies

  12. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Stuart Chapin III

  13. Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Nils Kautsky

  14. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Brian H. Walker

  15. College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    James R. Watson

  16. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    James Wilen

  17. Department of Economics, CentER and TSC, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands

    Aart de Zeeuw

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  1. Carl Folke
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Contributions

C.F., H.Ö. and J.-B.J. designed the research, collected the data and performed the analyses with support from E.F.L., W.N.A., M.S., B.I.C., M.N., S.A.L., S.R.C. and A.D.; C.F., H.Ö. and J.-B.J. led the writing of the paper, with input from E.F.L., W.N.A., M.S., B.I.C., M.N., S.A.L., S.R.C., J.M.A, S.C.III, A.-S.C., A.D., V.G., L.J.G., N.K., B.H.W., J.R.W., J.W. and A.d.Z.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carl Folke.

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Competing interests

C.F., H.Ö., J.-B.J., B.I.C. and A.D. provide scientific support to companies in the seafood sector through the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative (http://keystonedialogues.earth/). The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

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Folke, C., Österblom, H., Jouffray, JB. et al. Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 1396–1403 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0978-z

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