Co-Leadership in Climate Change: An Agenda to 2013 and Beyond

Abstract

The climate change (CC) discourse has moved from the dominance of science into other contesting spaces that include politics, economics, religion, social justice and the business arena. Two questions are addressed in this paper: (1) which actors (human), actants (non-human) and networks have been and are shaping the CC narrative? (2) Who could be the appropriate leaders and leadership models to address the challenges associated with CC in our times? Powerful scientific, political and economic groupings spearheading the CC agenda have emerged. To this end, co-leadership might be an appropriate model for addressing CC in this century. A co-leadership model recognizes the existence and interface of leaders and co-leaders. In CC co-leadership places this narrative at the centre, driving various kinds of leaders and co-leaders as well as leadership and co-leadership tied to numerous CC leadership zones. Among some of the leadership zones are mitigation, adaptation, financing, technology, social dynamics, and policy framework. The entire work is informed by an analytical framework that permits documentation, understanding and tracing of actors, actants and networks, thus, the Actor/Actant Network Theory.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Exxaro Resources Limited for sponsoring the Chair in Business and Climate Change run under Unisa's Centre for Corporate Citizenship.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Godwell Nhamo

Exxaro Chair of Business & Climate Change, Centre for Corporate Citizenship, University of South Africa, PO Box 392, UNISA, 0003.