At the beating heart of European industry, a quiet revolution is taking shape. We are not talking about technological, mechanical or manufacturing innovations, but about strategic decisions, long-term visions and radical rethinking of how companies interact with the planet. It is the decarbonization revolution, a challenge that is reshaping the very DNA of the business world with an urgent and ambitious goal: to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in order to contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement. But how is this task being addressed concretely? A recent study published in Organization & Environment by Leticia Canal Vieira, Mariolina Longo and Matteo Mura of the University of Bologna questions the issue, bringing new, unprecedented insights.

The research, entitled Responding to a Wicked Problem: How Time, Sense of Place, and Organizational Boundaries Shape Companies’ Decarbonization Strategies, analyzes the decarbonization strategies of 45 European manufacturing companies considered leaders in climate action. The authors propose an innovative three-dimensional theoretical framework that combines essential factors such as time, sense of place, and organizational boundaries to better understand how these dimensions shape companies’ strategies.

The findings reveal interesting patterns:

1. Time Dimension: About 45% of companies take a short-term approach, focusing on immediate solutions such as energy efficiency. The remaining 55% plan future actions and invest in innovative technologies such as the direct removal of CO2.
2. Sense of Place: a three-way split emerges between companies with “unlimited” (31 percent), “limited” (33 percent) and “global” (45 percent) sense of place. The latter demonstrate a more advanced understanding of climate change as a global phenomenon.
3. Organizational Boundaries: strategies are divided into “insular” (18 percent), with “vertical integration” (42 percent) and “network integration” (40 percent). Companies with more expansive boundaries tend to develop more comprehensive strategies.

The study highlights how companies that adopt a long-term perspective, a global sense of place and expanded organizational boundaries are more likely to develop comprehensive and effective decarbonization strategies. These companies not only aim to reduce direct emissions, but also actively involve suppliers, customers, and other actors in the value chain.

One virtuous example is Michelin, which launched the European BlackCycle project to create a closed loop in tire production, involving 13 partners along the value chain. The goal is to reduce the CO2 emission factor of key raw materials by 30 percent.

The research also highlights some critical issues. Many companies, while having ambitious goals, still struggle to translate them into concrete actions that go beyond energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption. Genuine transformation of business models towards sustainability is often lacking. The study also highlights the need to develop new managerial skills to better understand the risks and opportunities associated with climate change. Innovative tools are also needed to help managers develop strategies that can truly contribute to the transition to a low-emissions economy.

This research opens new perspectives on the complex challenge of corporate decarbonization. It shows how a multidimensional approach, taking into account time, space, and organizational factors, is critical to developing increasingly effective strategies. The road to a zero-emissions future is still long, but this analysis provides valuable insights into how companies can successfully address a truly momentous transformation.