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How is Business Adapting to Climate Change Impacts Appropriately? Insight from the Commercial Port Sector

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Abstract

Adaptation to climate change impacts is a key research topic in business ethics that poses substantial implications on the good lives of human beings. The commercial port sector is a highly relevant study focus with its pivotal roles in supply chains and international trade. Hence, it is important to investigate whether the port planning system and practice is appropriate in tackling climate change impacts. But beforehand, we must thoroughly understand the attitude and behaviors of port planners and operators on ports’ climate adaptation planning. Through a survey towards 21 ports (seaports and dry ports) in Canada, the paper investigates the attitude and behaviors of port planners and operators on ports’ climate adaptation planning. Towards the end, we propose a new approach so as to enable port stakeholders to carry out climate adaptation planning effectively. The paper offers important insight to researchers to investigate the ways in developing effective climate adaptation plans and practice for ports and other business sectors.

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Notes

  1. This study focuses on commercial ports handling cargoes (e.g., containers, liquid bulk). Ports that handle passengers (e.g., cruise) or non-commercial purposes (e.g., naval) are not included.

  2. In this study, risk is understood as ‘the likelihood over a specified time period of severe alterations in the normal functioning of a community or a society due to hazardous physical events interacting with vulnerable social conditions, leading to widespread human, material, economic, or environmental effects that require immediate emergency response to satisfy critical human needs and that may require external support for recovery’. Meanwhile, uncertainty is understood as ‘the propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected, including the characteristics of a person or group that influences their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from the adverse effects of physical events’. For further details, see IPCC (2012).

  3. Not all the identities of the ports are illustrated here, as some respondents have reflected their concern, where they regarded the information that they have shared as confidential.

  4. In most ports, only 1–4 people would be directly responsible for the environmental aspects of planning and strategic development. Among them, only 1–2 would hold senior managerial positions that would participate in the key decision-making process of ports.

  5. In several cases, due to the preference of respondents, e-mails or phone calls were used instead.

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Acknowledgments

The study is supported by the Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Inc. via the Rh Award Program (317367) and the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (NRF-2014S1A2A2027957). An earlier version of the paper was presented during the Annual Conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) 2015 (see Ng et al. 2015). The usual disclaimers apply.

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Correspondence to Adolf K. Y. Ng.

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Ng, A.K.Y., Wang, T., Yang, Z. et al. How is Business Adapting to Climate Change Impacts Appropriately? Insight from the Commercial Port Sector. J Bus Ethics 150, 1029–1047 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3179-6

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