“There are no natural disasters”: Latent climate change tensions in non-sustainability organizations

Researchers studying climate change organizing have examined sustainability and corporate social responsibility, focusing on organizations that prioritize climate change. As many different types of organizations need to address the effects and mitigation of climate change, organizations that previously didn't see themselves as environmentally focused will now engage with climate change issues. This study contributes to organizational communication theory by highlighting how non-sustainability organizations adapt their processes in response to climate change, by exploring tensions in climate change communication within emergency response work. After interviewing 29 emergency management personnel, we identified three tensions surrounding climate change organizing that nested at both the organizational and institutional levels, leading to process outcomes such as personnel burnout and diminished agency.