Novel Risk Translation: Climate Change and the Real Estate Industry

Event Details

Michael Scotney presents findings from his working paper (co-authored with Prof Brendan O'Dwyer) "Novel Risk Translation: Climate Change and the Real Estate Industry"

Michael Scotney will be presenting his findings from his working paper co-authored with Professor Brendan O'Dwyer, entitled "Novel Risk Translation: Climate Change and the Real Estate Industry". The study seeks to understand how and why climate risk perceptions and associated climate risk management practices have changed over the past twenty years in the real estate sector. The aim of the event is to share the findings with an interested audience and to gain critical feedback on the project's potential contributions, particularly the validity of the process model presented.

This study explores how translations of novel risks evolve, propagate, and transform across a value chain. Using a field-level, longitudinal case study of climate-related risk in the real estate sector, the paper uncovers how risk apparatuses influence the way in which climate-related risks are translated. Specifically, it presents a comprehensive analysis and underlying process model depicting the evolution and underlying drivers of climate-related risk management in the real estate sector. The analysis refines and extends Hardy and Maguire’s (2020) ‘Ecology of Risks’ framework in order to develop our understanding of risk management revolving around novel risks associated with ‘grand challenges’. The paper also unearths unique insights relevant for policymakers with regard to how the wider institutional environment influences an industry’s conception of, and engagement with, climate-related risks. Finally, the study contributes to the risk management literature by enriching the concept of ‘risk apparatuses’. This involves illustrating how divergent apparatuses are associated with different outcomes in relation to the treatment, perception and manageability of risk objects, thereby highlighting the utility of examining the strategic nature of risk apparatuses.