Summary

As climate change has become a defining challenge for our society, socio-political considerations gained central importance in the evaluation of firms’ actions. This PhD project focuses on the social evaluation of technological solutions as they emerge in response to pressures for climate transition. More specifically, we study how firms and their stakeholders navigate the development of carbon capture, a potentially important yet controversial technology for reducing CO₂ emissions in heavy industries. We compile a longitudinal database to tie media-based social evaluations to investments in carbon capture technology across the globe, and we analyze it using both statistical and textual approaches. In doing so, our project aims to contribute to organization theory and strategy research.