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Accepted Paper:

Corporate Social Responsibility and Climate Change: The case of Oil & Gas Industry of Nigeria  
Grace Adebanjo (University of Essex)

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how corporations in the oil and gas industry of Nigeria make sense of climate change impact related to their activities, and the perceived link to human rights violations. It evaluates how these feed into CSR practices and reporting in response to climate action.

Paper long abstract:

The world increasingly faces a global climate threat characterized by the frequency and intensity of climate events. Human activities, especially those of extractive industries greatly impact climate change. This study deciphers how multinational and indigenous oil and gas corporations in Nigeria understand climate change. Specifically, its perceived link with gas flaring, impact on local communities and environment, including how it is reflected on corporate social responsibility practices and reporting.

The study uses interpretive research method to answer the research questions through themes generated from data with insight from extant literature and theories. Corporate documents are analyzed as are interviews conducted with personnel from the corporations, regulators of the industry, NGOs, and community residents for corroborative or rebuttal evidence.

Evidence shows that corporations in this industry ride on the lax regulatory and monitoring system in place, ignorance of local host communities, and take advantage of knowledge and power differential between themselves and communities. They use meager CSR initiatives, however remote from climate action, to pacify the community stakeholders and sustain or improve their legitimacy while diverting attention from the main issues at stake to forestall disruption to business.

The implication of this finding is that corporate social and environmental responsibility practices and accompanying reporting in their current forms are unlikely to produce the desired action towards tackling climate challenges. Consequently, intentional commitment by the corporations, backed by strict and mandatory policy instruments is essential since it appears that there is no end in sight for oil and gas exploration.

Panel P62
Narratives on extractive processes and security
  Session 1 Friday 8 July, 2022, -