Abstract<br /> The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly visible in the form of more severe wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding. As the science linking these disasters to climate change has grown more robust, it has led to pressure on politicians to acknowledge the connection. While an analysis of U.S. Congressional press releases reveals a slight increase in politicians’ willingness to do so, many remain hesitant. Why? We hypothesize that climate change attribution can backfire, harming politicians’ popularity and undermining their ability to adapt to the visible manifestations of climate change. We conduct an original survey experiment on a representative sample of American adults and show that when a politician links wildfires to climate change, Republicans perceive the official as less capable of addressing weather-related disasters. In addition, Republicans become less supportive of efforts to protect against similar disasters in the future. Our findin
HSF names new ESG global leadership team
By Jerome Doraisamy|24 February 2021
Global firm Herbert Smith Freehills has a new-look leadership team for its environmental, social and governance (ESG) practice.
The restructured team has been assembled, the firm said, to help meet client demand and build on the firm’s 30 years of experience advising in this area.
The new ESG leadership team, it continued, will streamline client access to the firm’s expertise and specialist capabilities from across all practice areas, sectors, and offices – mobilising multidisciplinary teams to match client need for holistic support in this field.
Included in the leadership team is Australian-based governance expert Timothy Stutt (pictured), who is joined by London-based energy partner Silke Goldberg, responsible investment specialist Rebecca Perlman for the UK, the US and EMEA, and business and human rights specialist Antony Crockett in Asia.