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2013 Spring | Business & Sustainability, Climate Change

What Businesses Think of Climate Risks

Student(s):

Soshi Kumamoto

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Michelle Mullin, Tristen Gardner

Partner(s):

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10

Faculty advisor(s):

David Tetta, Guest Lecturer, University of Washington

For my internship, I created a database to determine the extent of toxic PCB contamination in school facilities. I learned that PCBs are associated with elevated risk perception; they make many people disproportionately concerned and encourage people to take action. In response, I decided to learn how concerned businesses are about climate change and how willing they are to address the issue. Through a comprehensive literature review, I was able to obtain useful insights – I discovered that businesses are generally concerned about the influence of climate risks but are not very willing to dedicate efforts for various reasons.