Financial Markets, Climate Change, and Paradoxes of Coordination and Intervention

While capitalism as a system follows a logic that drives it toward environmental degradation, not every corporation blindly follows. Not all capital is opposed to action on climate change as corporations have their own internal logic and agency. This divides different parts of capital. For some corporations their logic promotes long-termism and environmental sustainability as this maximizes their profit (e.g. insurance companies). So ownership and the old divisions between industrial and finance capital are less relevant as corporations become increasingly financialized. The principal cleavage on climate issues is between companies whose profits are enhanced or threatened by carbon emissions.