Research
Climate change, like other social problems, is inequitable in both its cause and consequence. My research focuses on the group that has contributed the most to climate change while also shielding itself from the worst of climate change’s impacts: corporations.
Understanding the macro-institutional factors that shape corporate emissions requires taking into account a global context of pro-business regulation, technological innovations, and foreign direct investment, among other factors. Examining these relationships requires a cross-level approach: how do macro-level factors structure organizational-level outcomes?
Informed by macro-sociological theories and political economy, my research engages with both environmental and organizational sociology. To answer my research questions, I use quantitative models for longitudinal data and computational methods to work with large-scale, mixed qualitative and quantitative datasets.
Drivers of Corporate Emissions
Which factors account for changes in corporate-level carbon dioxide emissions?
Corporations have contributed disproportionately to the climate crisis. But much of the research on the drivers of climate change has focused on either the macro-level of the nation-state or the micro-level of individuals, leaving the meso-level of the corporation—and the relationships between these levels—largely unexplored. My dissertation research, addresses this gap and explores the corporate drivers of climate change by identifying national factors associated with changing emissions.
Drivers of
National Emissions
Which factors account for increases in nation-level carbon dioxide emissions?
In a coauthored project with with Drs. Andrew Jorgenson (Boston College), Rob Clark (University of California), and Jeffrey Kentor (Wayne State University), we find that foreign direct investment networks encourage environmental load displacement and ecologically unequal exchange. My previous research has found that pro-business economic policies can act in a similar manner.
Computational Text Analysis
How corporations make sense of climate change?
In an ongoing project with Dr. Isak Ladegaard (University of Illinois), we utilize computational and qualitative text analysis strategies to analyze corporate earnings calls to understand how major oil and gas corporations negotiate the topic of climate change with their shareholders.
Technology and Dematerialization
Will the increasing adoption of technology lead to a decrease in material consumption?
Despite an uptick in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), there has been no change in material consumption. This indicates that the emissions savings of ICT are being canceled out by the increases in material use brought about by the same technologies.
Interdisciplinary Work
What insights can sociology contribute to other disciplines?
The far-reaching consequences of climate change are mirrored in the variety disciplines working on the issue. To contribute to the growing interdisciplinary dialogue on this topic, I coauthored a chapter introducing key ideas from environmental sociology to scholars of theology and religion.
Publications
2024
Ladegaard, Isak, and Annika Rieger. “When Transparency Clouds Action. Denial and Inertia in the Oil and Gas Industry: An analysis of Corporate Earnings Calls, 2007-2020.” Forthcoming at Social Problems.
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Rieger, Annika. “Are Corporations Responding to Civil Society Pressure? A Multi-level Analysis of the Effect of Institutional Factors on Corporate Emissions.” Sociology of Development.
2022
Jorgenson, Andrew, Robert Clark, Jeffery Kentor, and Annika Rieger. “Networks, Stocks, and Climate Change A New Approach to the Study of Foreign Investment and the Environment.” Energy Research & Social Science. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2021.102461
2021
Rieger, Annika. “Does ICT Result in Dematerialization? The case of Europe, 2005-2017.” Environmental Sociology 7(1): 64-75. doi:0.1080/23251042.2020.1824289
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Rieger, Annika, and Juliet B. Schor. 2021. “Consumption.” In International Handbook of Environmental Sociology, edited by Beth Caniglia, Andrew K. Jorgenson, Stephanie Marlin, Lori Peek, David Pellow, and Xiaorui Huang. Springer.
2020
Greenfield, Emily, Sara Moorman, and Annika Rieger. “Life Course Pathways from Childhood Socioeconomic Status to Later Life Cognition: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.” The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 76(6): 1206-1217. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbaa062
2019
Rieger, Annika. “Doing Business and Increasing Emissions? An Exploratory Analysis of the Impact of Business Regulation on Carbon Dioxide Emissions.” Human Ecology Review 25(1): 69-85. doi:10.22459/HER.25.01.2019.04
Rieger, Annika, and Joerg Rieger. “Working with Environmental Economists.” in T&T Clark Companion on Christian Theology and Climate Change, edited by Ernst M. Conradie and Hilda P. Koster. T&T Clark/Bloomsbury.