The Transnational Climate Governance of Digital Platforms in the Age of Generative AI
Large American digital platform companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have become more active in recent years in their climate initiatives and communications. As their energy needs become greater between ongoing growth and the energy intensity of generative AI technologies, these companies are under greater societal and government scrutiny for their carbon emissions, and seek to burnish their green credentials through greater investments in renewable energy and so-called “climate tech.” This project examines the extent to which these climate initiatives are becoming akin to governance, such that these companies which serve as critical intermediaries for so much communication and commerce are also shaping carbon accounting and trading frameworks and standards. As transnational companies whose climate communications and initiatives have potentially global impacts and ambitions, my project will examine how their corporative governance regimes interact with governmental governance regimes in different jurisdictions, specifically Germany and the European Union.
Main Research Topics
- Digital Media
- Promotional Culture
- Platform Capitalism
- Climate Tech
- Livestreaming
Curriculum Vitae
- 2022–Present: Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- 2010–2022: Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- 2004–2010: Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- 2003–2004: Instructor, McMaster University
Publications and Presentations
- West, E. (2022). Buy Now: How Amazon Branded Convenience and Normalized Monopoly. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
- West, E. & McAllister, M.P. (2023). The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture, 2nd edition. New York: Routledge.
- West, E. (2022). “Decoding Amazon’s Climate Pledge: Public Relations and the Platformization of Governance.” In Amazon: At the Intersection of Culture and Capital, edited by Paul Smith, Alexander Monea, & Maillim Santiago, pp.269–286. Rowman & Littlefield.
- West, E. (2021). “Review Pollution: Pedagogy for a Post-Truth Society.” Media and Communication, 9(3), 144-154.
- West, E. (2019). “Amazon: Surveillance as a Service.” Surveillance & Society, 17(1/2): 27-33.