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Organizational system thinking as a cognitive framework to meet climate targets

Burato, Matteo; Tang, Samuel; Vastola, Vincenzo; Cenci, Simone; (2023) Organizational system thinking as a cognitive framework to meet climate targets. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 120 (41) , Article e2309510120. 10.1073/pnas.2309510120. Green open access

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Abstract

System thinking is a crucial cognitive framework to enable individual pro-environmental behavioral changes. Indeed, a large body of literature has shown a significant and positive association between individuals’ system thinking capacities and perceptions of the threat posed by climate change. However, individual behavioral changes play a limited role in addressing climate change compared to large organizations involved in a significantly larger share of economic activities. Do organizations exhibit system thinking capacities? Here, we conjecture that system thinking is a cognitive framework observable at an aggregated group level and, therefore, organizations, not just individuals, can exhibit characteristic levels of system thinking. We conceptualize a definition of organizational system thinking and develop an empirical method to estimate it using a large body of textual data from business organizations. Then, we show that system thinking organizations are more likely to lower emissions and align them with the pathways required to meet the climate targets set by the Paris Agreement. Finally, we discussed the theoretical and policy implication of our study. Overall, our results suggest that system thinking is a relevant organization-level cognitive framework that can help organizations align their emissions with global climate targets.

Type: Article
Title: Organizational system thinking as a cognitive framework to meet climate targets
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2309510120
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309510120
Language: English
Additional information: © The Authors 2023. Original content in this paper is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10178325
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