An Exploration of Motivations, Drivers and Barriers to Carbon Management:: The UK FTSE 100

This paper explores the motivations, drivers and barriers to carbon management, using the companies of the FTSE 100 as the empirical case. After giving an overview of climate change activities undertaken by FTSE 100 companies, the paper attempts to distinguish between motivations and drivers for corporate carbon management. Motivations are regarded as those factors that closely relate to the innate concern of business for profit and comparative advantage while drivers are considered to be the factors that are rooted in wider societal pressures and concern for the environment. Based on the UK study, the paper presents five motivations and five drivers for corporate activity on climate change. Finally, current barriers to corporate activity on climate change are discussed and issues identified that should be explored in greater depth in order to generate a more precise understanding of the carbon management activities of corporate actors.