Research Themes and Domains

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Research Themes

Three research themes encapsulate the current and projected work of the Centre:-

Corporate Environmental Governance and Social Responsibility. Research under this these essentially concerns the relationship between corporations and environmental sustainability, exploring both governance within firms and the broader governance processes within which they operate. The work is being conducted at various spatial scales and includes studies at the international level on the institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility, nationally based analyses of corporate greening and micro-level evaluation of firms' environmental behaviour. Research under this theme has been enhanced through the Alcoa Foundation's Conservation and Sustainability Fellowships Programme.
Governance Structures, Institutions and Instruments for Policy Change. Work under this theme takes a multi-level governance perspective, addressing environmental problem issues at different spatial scales and exploring the inter-relationships between scales and across policy domains. Ongoing studies include the implementation of multi-lateral agreements, regulatory compliance, public access and redress in international environmental regimes, innovation diffusion and domestic environmental performance, the catalysts for policy and implementation change, and on the instruments for policy change, implementation and adaptation to environmental change and environmental risks.
Measurement, Modelling, Valuation and Evaluation. Long-standing work continues on improving environmental valuation and evaluation and on the measurement of sustainable development. More recent work, undertaken through the LSE Climate Network, involves improving our understanding of the nature of uncertainties in complex climate models, and help policy-makers manage the risks and uncertainties of climate change policy.

Research Domains

LSE Environment will continue to work across a range of environmental problem areas, including biodiversity, ecosystem change and environmental security. However, two particular policy domains - climate change (which includes energy and carbon) and water - have become the focus of much recent activity. Research in these domains occurs across all three of the centre's research themes.

The Centre hosts the Energy, Water and Environment Community Programme, in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, and the London Water Research group, in collaboration with Kings College.

The Centre is a founder member, along with the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS) of the LSE Climate Network. The Network now includes researchers in statistics, economics, finance, law, international relations, government, philosophy, environmental policy and development studies in an effort to make the step change improvements in the social science of climate change and climate change policy.