Sustaining Hegemony through Contradiction: Political Agribusiness and Climate Change in Brazil

Presenter: Pierre-Eloi Gay (ESSEC)

Discussant: Mariana Alves de Souza Lyrio (Sciences Po)

Despite shifts in corporate stances on key issues and the limited outcomes following initial climate commitments, climate policies do not challenge corporate power or the economic and technological models upheld by major corporations. Corporate hegemony over climate change mitigation policies remains firm, although the ability to exert this hegemony involves political and cultural nuances that warrant deeper investigation. Why and how, despite these limitations, do agribusiness corporations continue to dominate the climate agenda in Brazil? Based on a post-foundationalist theory, we analyzed the agribusiness case in Brazil from 2006 to 2022 – a sector globally dominated by a few multinational corporations – demonstrating that these corporations simultaneously adopt business-as-usual alongside climate-friendly discourses. Agribusiness corporations build contradictory chains of equivalence and difference over time and across different social groups. This helps them sustain their hegemony over the climate agenda by mobilizing different social actors according to the broader political equilibrium. However, these contradictions (fueled by extreme events linked to the climate crisis) generate political instability, posing challenges even for the largest corporations. Our paper highlights the complex interplay of sectoral economics, discourse, and political dynamics, revealing how corporations employ this dual discourse to shape the climate change debate to their advantage.