Environmental security as a source of non-state legitimacy: An analysis of corporate governance

Abstract

Environmental security concepts are shaping the contours of global environmental governance. Although many scholars have analyzed the emergence of environmental security agendas within state agencies and intergovernmental organizations, greater understanding of how environmental security debates traverse transnational, non-state politics is needed to provide a fuller view of environmental security as a globally contested concept. Therefore, this paper examines how transnational corporations (TNCs) leverage and generate ideas about environmental security on a cross-border scale. Specifically, I explore the ways three TNCs —BP, Nutrien, and Veolia—turn to environmental security as a source of legitimacy in their broader global environmental governance agendas. I find that these TNCs rely on particular notions of environmental security to validate their roles in filling governance gaps, promoting democratic principles, and mitigating planetary crisis, particularly to appease a primarily Western, elite audience. Ultimately, I reveal how environmental security concepts inform non-state legitimacy claims and advocate for a political economic perspective for understanding the wider implications of environmental security as a power-laden concept.