From Foe to Friend? Business, the Tipping Point and U.S. Climate Politics

Abstract

This article develops a model for analyzing corporate strategy formation and regulatory change in environmental politics. The model emphasize how conditions that materialize through the dynamic interplay between corporate preferences and multilevel environmental governance can trigger the emergence of “tipping points,” at which a critical mass of leading industries begin to push for regulatory change. It is argued that tipping points often generate new political momentum and may lead to considerable progress in political and legislative bargaining. The model is applied to a case study of U.S. climate politics between 1990 and 2010. The case demonstrates that the tipping point model provides a plausible account of the intersection between business strategies and the failures and successes of federal climate action in this period.